A West Plains woman awaiting the conclusion of a case involving a charge of third-degree domestic assault against her has been charged with felony first-degree arson after allegedly setting fire to a house on West Olden Street early the morning of Feb. 23 while five people, including three children, were inside.
Heather S. Boswell, 44, is held on a warrant with $50,000 bond, and has pleaded not guilty, court records show. She appeared in the courtroom of Associate 37th Circuit Judge R. David Ray for a counsel status hearing Monday with her attorney, Public Defender Jack Paisley, and is set to appear next on March 19 for a preliminary hearing, according to those records.
West Plains Police Detective Jeremy Pounders, in a statement submitted to prosecutors, reported that at about 6:30 a.m. Feb. 23, the West Plains Fire Department and police officers were dispatched to an active structure fire at a house on Olden Street.
A witness at the home stated he had been in a romantic relationship with Boswell but ended it and was living in the house on Olden Street with a woman and her children. The two adults told investigators they had gotten home around midnight the night before to find a window in the living room had been broken out while they were gone, and that they had been receiving threatening text messages during the early morning hours that day.
The messages reportedly included a threat from Boswell that she was going to the woman's house, and that when she was done there would be nothing left. The residents said they went to sleep sometime between 3 and 4 a.m., and because they had been disturbed by the messages the children slept in the same room as them.
The man said he was woken by the smell of smoke and the sound of breaking glass, and when he opened the bedroom door, he could see the couch in the living room was on fire and there was a lot of black smoke. He woke the other adult and they got everyone out of the house before calling 911.
Missouri State Fire Marshal Investigator Robbie Sterner was called to assist in the investigation and determined the fire started inside the house on the couch, in front of the broken window. Sterner concluded the fire must have been set by someone reaching into the window because there were no other possible sources of fire near the couch.
It was also discovered by investigators that three of four tires on the man's vehicle had been cut on the sidewall using a knife, flattening them.
The probable cause statement adds Boswell was arrested at about 10:30 a.m. that day at her home and taken to the police department for questioning. She reportedly admitted to stabbing the car tires, but claimed she didn't set any fires, while telling investigators she never saw anyone else around the house who could have.
She told law enforcement she ran away from the scene and could hear sirens from responding fire trucks before she got back to her house, a half-mile away.
Court records show she was sentenced to three years of supervised probation in March 2023 relating to a case filed in December 2022, and the terms of probation included a requirement that she complete a 12-week anger management course, have a mental evaluation and refrain from using alcohol.
On March 11, she is to appear before 37th Judicial Associate Circuit Court Judge R. David Ray for a case review. A week later she is scheduled to appear before Ray for a criminal setting pertaining to an unresolved charge of third-degree domestic assault, filed in May.
Court records show public defender Paisley is also her attorney in the 2022 case and the more recent domestic assault charge.
At about 10:30 p.m. May 29, West Plains Police Officer Jerry Mingus said in a probable cause statement, he was dispatched to a call regarding an in-progress domestic disturbance and arrived to find Boswell and a female family member lying on the floor.
Boswell is alleged in that case to have pulled the other woman’s hair, bringing both of them to the floor, and injuring the other woman by biting her abdomen and causing a scrape to her forearm. The mother of the two women, as she tried to intervene, was also reportedly struck in the head by Boswell.
Boswell reportedly continued to be aggressive after officers arrived by trying to push past law enforcement to continue the fight and kicked an arresting officer in the chest as he was trying to seat her in a booking area after her arrest.
