A Texas woman has been arrested on charges of arson after allegedly setting fire to the house of a family she had been babysitting for.
Martha Dreher, aged 57, had been minding Glenn Williams' four children – two preteen daughters and five-year-old twin boys – for a number of months when the incident took place on August 9th.
Williams was on holidays at the time with his daughters, while Dreher minded the younger boys at their grandmother’s home. She told police that she had visited Williams’ house on the night of the fire, but only to get some popcorn for the boys.
According to police, security cameras showed signs of fire around 25 minutes after Dreher entered the house, and the blaze was clearly visible by the time she drove away.
Although Dreher denies she had anything to do with the fire, she had complained to Williams before the incident that his daughters were “disrespectful” and had mentioned she no longer wanted to work for the family. “She said… she didn’t think it was a good match and she probably didn't want to do this anymore,” said the childrens’ father to a local news channel.
Williams’ older son discovered the fire damage when he returned home later that night, and noticed that the doors of the girls’ bedrooms were closed, as if to stop the fire spreading to the rest of the house.
Dreher apparently described the two girls to police as “out of control, lacking respect for her and having discipline issues,” according to a local newspaper.
“It was definitely a vendetta against the two girls," said Williams. “Before I left, she had taken the girls clothes shopping, and she said that it was horrible, that my oldest had been very disrespectful to her.”
