CHESTERFIELD, Ind. – A 38-year-old woman and her boyfriend are accused of setting her parents’ Chesterfield house on fire in February, stealing their car, then setting that on fire, too.
The first blaze proved treacherous for first responders, who arrived around 4 a.m. on February 18.
According to court documents, “the interior of the structure began to collapse and firefighters became surrounded by fire.” A couple of them went briefly unaccounted for, leading to a short mayday declaration until they escaped and resumed contact with the commander on scene.
“It is disheartening,” said Sgt. Todd Harmeson, public information officer for the Chesterfield Police Department and East Madison Fire Territory. “Our police officers, our firefighters, in not only our community but every community in this country, put their lives on the line. And when individuals commit crimes like that, it does put their lives at risk.”
Sgt. Todd Harmeson says luckily, no one was hurt.
According to court documents, fire officials found evidence of arson, including “unusual burn patterns throughout the structure, documenting multiple origins of the fire and suspicious fire behavior.”
In connection with the incident, a car was reported stolen from the garage. It was found a day later, abandoned in rural Morgan County, torched so badly that no evidence could be collected from it.
“I see a lot of really crazy stuff in a fairly long career, but I’m not sure I can remember a case where someone set their parents’ house on fire and then their vehicle on fire,” said Madison County Prosecutor Rodney Cummings.
Police soon tracked down Charity Nugent, whose parents own the destroyed house and car, and her boyfriend, Bradley Steinhilber, and brought them in for questioning.
Documents say that during her interview, Nugent told “a copious amount of lies” about her whereabouts during and after the fire and phone calls she made. When Nugent was shown the evidence “that proved she was fabricating a story,” documents say her “face sunk and her head dropped. Charity began breathing heavily and started shaking.”
When Steinhilber was questioned, he claimed he was so high on meth he passed out in the car and didn’t remember much.
Finally, last week, investigators got access to Nugent’s phone records and found on February 1, she searched: “How easy is it to get away with arson?”
Then, documents say Nugent added an event to her Google calendar called “House burnt down” on February 17 – a day before the fire.
On February 18, hours after it happened, Nugent reportedly texted someone: “I don’t know how he (Brad) got the fire that f****** big I couldn’t get the damn boards to catch cuz they’re all wet.”
Documents also indicate Nugent activated a police scanner app the day after the fire and made a “copious amount of news searches” in the Indianapolis area, around the same time the vehicle fire was believed to have been set.
“Nothing is ever easy when it comes to jury trials in America,” Cummings said. “But clearly that’s a strong piece of evidence that made it possible to file the charges that have been filed so far.”
This week, warrants were issued for the couple, both charged with arson and fraud. Officials say insurance investigators have been cooperating throughout.
“The message is – if you’re going to do crime in Chesterfield, we’re going to prosecute,” added Harmeson.
Officials say the investigation remains open and there could be more arrests to come.
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