UPDATE 5/5: Charges have been filed against the person accused of starting an apartment fire Wednesday.
Bobbi Jo Harris, 41, of Springfield, is charged with two felonies: first-degree arson and resisting arrest.
According to court documents, Harris knocked on “the victim’s” apartment door around 6 a.m. on May 3. The victim and Harris knew each other for years and he let her inside. Harris allegedly went into the kitchen to make food. The two were at the apartment together until around 11:45 a.m.
A 4 p.m., the victim was walking back to his apartment and saw Harris behind a house near his apartment. She waved and he kept walking. When he got to his apartment, he saw flames coming out of the wall above his door and a garden hose stretched from a neighboring apartment to the front door. He called the cops and used the hose to fight the fire.
The Springfield Fire Department found more fire in the wall and attic and extinguished it. An investigation into the fire’s origin began.
During that investigation, Harris walked over around 5:38 p.m. and told firefighters that she set the door on fire because she was hungry. She said she held a torch-style lighter to the wall long enough to start the fire.
She was arrested. Springfield police found a glass bubble pipe often used for illicit drug use in her bag. While she was being taken to a patrol vehicle, Harris told them they would have to drag her and tried to drop to the ground. She was carried to the vehicle.
Harris has not yet been scheduled for a court appearance.
Original article, published May 4, 2023:
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — A Commercial Street apartment building had to be evacuated Wednesday night due to a fire.
The 1400 block Commercial Street building near the corner of Fremont Avenue. Crews quickly put the fire out and no one was injured. Some of the units suffered smoke and water damage.
Bobbi Jo Harris was arrested and charged with first-degree arson and resisting/interfering with arrest for a felony.
OzarksFirst will update this article as more information becomes available.
