A 45-year-old woman has been given two life sentences for setting a fire that killed a 9-year-old boy and his mother in Waterloo. Denise O’Brien was sentenced Monday for the deaths of 32-year-old Ashely Smith and her son, Jaykwon Sallis, in April 2018. Prosecutors said O’Brien set the fire because she was upset her boyfriend was staying with another woman at Smith’s home. The boyfriend and the second woman escaped. O’Brien’s attorney says she continues to say she is innocent.
