Woman arrested, charged with murder in fatal fire
Hodge allegedly made threats to burn down home in days prior to blaze
The woman accused of intentionally starting a fire that killed three people in an Edgewood townhouse where she lived allegedly made threats to burn down the home in the days prior to the May 9 blaze, authorities said.
Bobbie Sue Hodge, 60, is charged with three counts of first- degree murder, two counts of attempted first- degree murder, two counts of attempted second-degree murder and first-degree arson, according to online court records.
Hodge was arrested about 9:15 a.m. Monday after a nearly two-month investigation by the State Fire Marshal, Harford
County Sheriff’s
Office, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Harford County State’s Attorney’s Office.
She was taken to the Harford County Detention Center, where she is being held without bail pending a bail review Wednesday afternoon.
“Three of our residents in the county lost their lives in this fire… You think of that sort of situation and being unable to escape. Thankfully some were able to escape,” Harford Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler said. “To know it was an intentional act that started it down the path to end these people’s lives, it’s horrific.”
The fire in the threestory house in the 1800 block of Simons Court was reported about 2:30 a.m. Ernest Milton Lee, 57, Kimberly Ann Shupe, 47, and Dionne Dominique Hill, 32, all lived on the third floor and died in the fire.
Shupe’s family attended a news conference held by law enforcement officials Tuesday but declined to comment on Hodge’s arrest.
Two other people were injured — Mary Elizabeth Kennedy, 52, with burns to more than 70 percent of her body, and Marquise St. John, 29, who was released from Upper Chesapeake Medical Center.
Kennedy was on the second floor and was rescued by firefighters; she is still receiving medical treatment, according to the charging documents.
St. John was injured jumping from a third-floor window, according to the documents.
Investigators determined Hodge, “who is also an occupant” of the townhouse, allegedly “did intentionally ignite a fire within the secondfloor living room,” according to charging documents.
“It is no accident that these three innocent people lost their lives on that Thursday morning and that two others continue to suffer with their injuries,” Maryland Fire Marshal Brian S. Geraci said at the news conference.
Geraci would not say how Hodge allegedly started the fire.
Hodge was a suspect f rom t he beginning, Gahler said.
“I don’t think to say there is a specific motive investigators have uncovered would be accurate,” he said. “It’s fair to say investigators realized early on this suspect deserved a strong look.”
Sheriff’s deputies had been called to the home several times previously, Gahler said.
In the days before the fire, Hodge allegedly made multiple threats to burn the home. On the night of the fire, she was seen leaving the second-floor living room at the time of the fire, according to charging documents.
One of the residents of the home made a phone call saying that Hodge had set a fire in the townhouse, charging documents show.
Investigators determined the fire caused $300,000 damage to the home where the fire started and the five other homes to which the fire extended.
After the blaze, state fire officials said they were investigating whether the home was being operated as an “illegal boarding house.” With nine people living in the home — eight were home at the time of the fire, including Hodge; one person was at work — it was determined to be an illegal group home, lodging and rooming house, Geraci said.
“Based on the number of occupants in the house, it did not meet or comply with current standards and fire codes in the state of Maryland,” he said.
Fire officials inspected six properties managed by the same manager of the Simons Court home, Jeffrey Augustus Luck, and said they discovered multiple fire code violations. He was issued violation notices for homes at 1846 Grempler Way, 1848 and 1854 Elise Lane, 1947 and 1845 Brookside Drive and 1459 Charlestown Drive, fire officials said.