Houston Nurse Sets Fire that Kills Three People
For three families in the Houston area, the fire that ripped through the office building at 9343 North Loop East at Gellhorn on March 30, 2007 cost them the lives of their loved ones and turned what should have a happy Easter holiday into a time of grief, sorrow and mourning. Six other people were injured in the four-alarm blaze that swept rapidly through the building, killing Marvin Wells Sr., 46, and Shana Ellis, 38, both of Houston, and Jeanette Hargrove, 52, of Friendswood.
Because of the wind, the fire quickly spread through the top floors of the building and it took more than 100 Houston firefighters to put the fire out over several hours. A fire chief was trapped inside the building and had to be rescued. Workers in the building had to break windows to get air and many were brought down through shattered windows via ladder trucks.
Houston Fire Department (HFD) offices were initially hesitant to send personnel inside the building to attempt to determine the cause of the blaze unless and until they received some assurance that the building would not collapse. After receiving that information, arson investigators also decided to also call in the National Response Team, which includes special agents supervised by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), to help with the probe.
Several doctors’ offices were located on the building’s fifth floor, including a cosmetic surgeon and a plastic surgeon. These offices likely had highly flammable substances and the fifth floor was where all of the fatalities occurred, but investigators could not say, at first, if the blaze started in that area.
Several people inside when the fire started said they heard no alarms. Angela Johnson, a lawyer with offices on the 6th floor, was with her mother. At approximately 5 p.m., her mother heard a voice faintly crying, “Fire! Fire!” The women quickly fled down the stairs. “We never heard a fire alarm. There were no sprinklers,” Johnson said.
As the Houston Fire Department and ATF teamed up to conduct a speedy investigation, they began combing through tons of debris and questioning dozens of witnesses. They soon began to suspect arson.
Alert investigators became suspicious on Saturday, April 7, when nurse, Misty Ann Weaver told a different story in a second interview than she had previously related when first questioned. Weaver first claimed she left the building about 5 p.m. and went home. On Saturday, however, she said that she had forgotten her cell phone and had to go back in the building. When questioned as to why she failed to include returning to the building in her first story, nurse Weaver said she worried the investigators might think she set the fire.
Since Ms. Weaver had no reason known to investigators to believe the fire was anything other than accidental, this set their radar off and they continued to question her more intensely. Ms. Weaver broke down and confessed to setting the blaze because she was behind in her work and feared being fired.
“I think it was a relief for her to confess,” said chief arson investigator Roy Paul of the Houston Fire Department. “I don’t think it ever really occurred to her that (the fire) could get out of control. She thought firefighters would put out the fire, it would mess up records and that way it would postpone” the deadline she was working under.
Ms. Weaver’s employer, Dr. Robert Capriotti, said the mother of two continued to work in his relocated office after the fire.
The Texas Board of Nurse Examiners is making the suspension of Weaver’s license a priority. Tony Diggs, director of enforcement for the Nurse Examiners, said, “Because she allegedly killed people and could post bail and go back to work, the investigation could result in an emergency suspension.” He further noted that she could surrender her license and avoid any disciplinary action on their part.
Ms. Weaver remains in the Harris County Jail on bail totaling $330,000.
