BALTIMORE — The Baltimore woman responsible for a fire that killed six of her children in 1992 has pleaded guilty to one count of arson and six counts of first-degree murder.
Tonya Lucas was already previously sentenced to life in prison, six times over.
She was retried after her first-degree murder conviction was overturned in 2015.
The conviction was overturned because of unreliable techniques used by fire investigators.
The state has offered a few possible motives in this case.
One scenario states, Lucas set the fire because the family was going to be evicted from the home that same day and she was hoping the Red Cross might step in and offer another place to live because of the fire.
Another theory suggests Lucas was attempting to cover child abuse or neglect that could have been going on in the home.
Investigators found a 2-year-old son of hers only weighed 10 pounds at the time of his death.
