A woman who police said confessed to setting her mother’s house in Seymour on fire was arrested Tuesday.
Megan M. Hart, 22, of Seymour, was booked into the Jackson County Jail in Brownstown on Tuesday on a Level 4 felony charge of arson after an investigation conducted by police.
That investigation led police to believe Hart set the fire April 20 at the house in the 900 block of North Park Street, Seymour Detective Sgt. Chris Franklin said. The fire was reported at 10:52 p.m. that day.
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The home was destroyed by the fire, and Hart’s own dog was killed, but Hart and her three children were not injured, police said.
During an interview, Franklin said Hart told investigators she set the fire and then left with the kids.
Franklin said police continue to investigate her possible motive. In the meantime, her children are staying with family, he said.
Franklin said Hart’s mother owns the home, but the mother had recently moved to Crothersville. Some of the mother’s belongings were still at the home while Hart was staying there with her three children.
Police said the investigation indicated the fire was set in the interior of the home and the kitchen stove was used to spark a flame. Franklin said he could not release any more details about the nature of the fire or how it was started because the investigation is ongoing.
Someone in the area saw flames and called 911 and the Seymour Fire Department was dispatched, Franklin said.
Hart later returned to the home and spoke with investigators, who Franklin said eventually came to the conclusion that her timeline of what she said happened wasn’t adding up.
“It didn’t piece together,” he said.
Police met with the fire department and searched through the rubble and debris to find the fire’s point of origin. Franklin said the cause could not have been electrical or accidental.
“We discovered that she was likely the person involved,” he said.
Arson is a Level 4 felony and carries a penalty upon conviction of a fixed term between two and 12 years in prison.
Besides driving infractions, Hart has no criminal record, according to court documents.