A Waterloo woman was found guilty of two counts of first degree Murder after a 9 year old boy and his mother were killed in a fire set by the woman, according to the Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier. 45 year old Denise O’Brien set fire to the back steps and front porch of a home on Dawson Street back on April 22nd of 2018 after she found out her boyfriend was staying there with another woman. After setting the fire she sent her boyfriend a text saying, “Karma comin 4 u…i hope it hurst.” The man and the woman were able to escape the fire but 9 year old Jaykwon Sallis and his mother, 32 year old Ashley Smith were trapped and died of smoke inhalation and burns in an upstairs bedroom. Sallis’ 12 year old sister escaped by jumping from a second story window. Investigators identified O’Brien in surveillance video at a business blocks away from the home that showed fire trucks en route at the same time. O’Brien faces a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole for each count.
