Woman charged with setting fire at Massachusetts apartment that killed 4

A former tenant appeared in court Friday to face arson and murder charges in connection with a fire at a Massachusetts apartment building last May that claimed the lives of four people, including a man who had sued right-wing radio host Alex Jones ' Infowars website.

Yvonne Ngoiri, 36, faces four counts of second-degree murder and was also indicted on multiple assault charges, the office of Worcester District Attorney Joseph Early Jr. said in a statement late Thursday. It was not immediately clear if she had an attorney who could comment.

The Worcester Telegram & Gazette reported that Assistant District Attorney Joseph Simmons asked that Ngoiri be held without bail. Ngoiri is due back in court Nov. 29.

The cause of the fire at the three-story, six-unit building in Worcester in the early morning hours of May 14 was determined to be "incendiary," according to the district attorney's office, but no motive was disclosed.

The victims have previously been identified as Joseph Garchali, 47; Christopher Lozeau, 53; Vincent Page, 41; and Marcel Fontaine, 29. They died of smoke inhalation and thermal injuries, authorities said.

During the fire, one person "jumped from a window to escape the flames and was seriously injured," the district attorney's office said.

Two other residents were hospitalized for smoke inhalation. The building had about 20 tenants.

There were a number of challenges for firefighters searching the building, including water damage, a collapsed roof, and snakes that had to be removed from one of the apartments, CBS Boston reported.

Fontaine sued Infowars in Texas in 2018. The complaint, seeking unspecified damages, said Infowars posted his photograph on its website the day of the shooting in Parkland, Florida, depicting him as the gunman at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where 17 people died.

Lawyers for Infowars countered that Fontaine failed to show any evidence of malice or any injury because of his photo's publication.

In:
• Massachusetts
• Worcester
• Fire