A Baxter County, Ark., woman has been charged in connection with a house fire that happened just over a year ago near Gamaliel, Ark., after allegedly telling someone she paid someone else $500 to set fire to the house, which was occupied by three adults and a child.
Tiffanie L. Vazquez, 38, has been arrested on charges of arson and attempted murder, according to Baxter County Sheriff John Montgomery.
On Jan. 30, 2023, Montgomery reported, fire departments were dispatched to a home off of Highway 101 in the Gamaliel area. He noted one of the people in the house was a disabled adult, but all of the occupants were able to escape from the burning house, and that the fire began in the carport or porch area and was considered suspicious by investigators.
The house and two vehicles were considered a total loss and a third vehicle was damaged, with the value of losses estimated to be $110,000.
On Jan. 25, 2024, a man reported he was approached by Vazquez, whom he knows, and during a conversation she told him she paid someone $500 to burn the house down because one of the people that lived there was stealing from her and other people she lived with, and that person never paid her back.
When asked why she would be telling him that, she allegedly replied the case and investigation were closed. While Vazquez was being given a ride by the reporting party, another person present made a phone recording of her again stating she had paid someone to burn down the house, adding that she was in Little Rock, Ark., the night it happened.
Vazquez also reportedly said she had gotten a phone call afterwards confirming "her problem had been taken care of," and offered more information and details, including doing so by text messaging.
The information was presented to Baxter County Prosecuting Attorney David Ethredge, and a warrant was issued March 1 on felony charges of arson and four counts of attempted first-degree murder, with a penalty enhancement related to being a habitual offender.
Montgomery said in his report Vazquez had at least 13 prior bookings in the Baxter County Jail on various charges, and the investigation into the crime is ongoing.
On Tuesday, Vazquez was taken into custody at a home on Fout Road in Gamaliel; she is being held in the Baxter County Detention Center on a $250,000 bond and is to appear in court April 1.
Besides the Baxter County Sheriff's Department, the Arkansas Community Corrections Special Response Team, the 14th Judicial Drug Task Force, the Arkansas State Police and the U.S. Marshal Service took part in the investigation.
