A Sioux City woman is in jail charged with first degree arson after she allegedly set the house she was staying at on fire while another person was sleeping inside.
Court documents state that 31-year-old Krystal Reyes sprayed lighter fluid at the base of a stairwell leading upstairs to where Frederick Merrick was sleeping the morning of October 12th.
Another woman, Ashley Nichols, was living in the home at 1209 West 14th with her infant daughter and Merrick.
Reyes sometimes stayed at the house and knew Nichols because their children have the same biological father.
Police say Reyes asked Nichols to driver her to a store to cash a check and Nichols took her infant outside to start the truck.
When Nichols went back inside, she saw Reyes squirting lighter fluid on the carpet at the base of the stairwell.
A ladder had been moved to obstruct the stairway.
Police say Reyes ignited a roll of paper towels with a lighter and placed them on the carpet in an apparent effort to spread the flames to different locations in the living room.
Reyes then fled and drove off in the truck as Nichols was trying to remove belongings from it.
The truck was registered to Merrick’s mother and Reyes was arrested in Lincoln, Nebraska for possession of the stolen truck and property.
Reyes is being held in the Woodbury County Jail on $20,000 bond.
