Kansas City CBS affiliate, KCTV 5 reports Thursday Hong Nguyen, 43, faces one count of first-degree arson and two counts of second-degree murder in the case. An investigation revealed the fire was set on objective, by a nail salon owner who had a history of fanning flames, Jackson County prosecutor Jean Peters Baker said.
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Kansas City police have arrested an alleged pyromaniac whose most recent blaze killed two veteran firefighters. She’s being held on $2 million bond.
Baker said at a news conference that the firefighters’ families were “really struggling with the news they received today” and did not wish to comment.
Investigators said Nguyen told them that she left the salon on the night of the fire, but they later determined through surveillance footage from nearby buildings that that Nguyen was the last person out of the salon.
According to court records, investigators said Nguyen bought four bottles of acetone and four bottles of isopropyl alcohol, both of which are ignitable, on the day of the fire. Around 7:30 the evening of October 12, the Kansas City Fire Department responded to a massive building fire on the 2600 block of Independence Avenue. In January, a fire was reported in a vacant apartment above the LN Salon and Spa, which damaged the business.
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Before the building collapsed, firefighters rescued tenants from the half-block-long building containing first-floor businesses and two upper floors of apartments. The cause of the fire was classified as accidental.
