POLICE: MAN SOUGHT IN POSSIBLE DEADLY ARSON
Woman found dead in mobile home fire that may have been intentionally set
Like many residents of Leslie’s Mobile Home Village in Roseville, Destiny Bennett routinely uses her cell phone to videotape the community’s activities.
Bennett usually trains her camera on motorists speeding or going the wrong way through the community’s narrow roads.
“We always are recording, just to catch people,” she said, adding many in the mobile home community know and look out for each other, especially the older residents.
On Monday morning, her camera was rolling after she saw smoke coming from one of the units down the street. She then spotted the man who lives at the unit walking out.
“I’ve got the boyfriend or husband leaving the house with several white bags that
looked like they contained clothes,” Bennett told The Macomb Daily, adding he left on foot with the bags.
Authorities are now looking for the man for questioning after a woman he apparently lived with was found dead inside of their home in what could be a case of arson.
The incident took place at the mobile home community, located off Gratiot Avenue, just north of 10 Mile Road.
Roseville Fire Chief Brian Kanigowski someone called 911 about 10 a.m. Monday to report light smoke was coming from the home. As firefighters arrived, they found flames erupting from the home.
“We had reports of a missing female,” Kanigowski said. “When (firefighters) made entry, they found the female was deceased in the trailer.”
Fire crews were able to quickly extinguish the flames and prevented the blaze from spreading to another mobile home.
Roseville police were looking for the male who lived at the mobile home with the woman. Neighbors said they believe there were children living there as well, although they were not at home when the fire broke out.
Neighbors said the man was involved in a shooting in the spring of 2020 when he was shot in the shoulder.
Police arrested Thumel Wright James on charges of discharging a weapon at a building causing injury, a 15-year felony, and carrying a concealed weapon, a 5-year felony. The two had a lingering dispute that resulted in gunfire, police said at the time.
But a 39th District Court clerk said it appears the charges were dismissed when the complainant failed to show up in court.
Mobile home park residents also expressed concern because there are no fire hydrants near the burning structure in Leslie’s Mobile Home Village. Fire crews were drawing
water from a hydrant on Gratiot, they said.
“That could have made all the difference,” said one resident, who did not want to be identified. “The neighbors were out here saying ‘Why aren’t you putting the fire out,’ and that was why. They couldn’t find a hydrant.”
Roseville Deputy Police Chief Mitch Berlin said an investigation is ongoing. He said as of Monday afternoon, the female victim had not yet been positively identified. Investigators are looking at “all possibilities” into what happened, Berlin added.
It was the second fire fatality of 2021 in Roseville, according to the fire chief. The first involved a woman who was in a fire on Valentine’s Day and died a day or two later from her injuries.
At the scene Monday, Roseville firefighters were assisted by crews from Eastpointe and St. Clair Shores. Michigan State Police and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were provided additional resources.