PB woman guilty of murder in house fire death

KENNETT — A Poplar Bluff woman pleaded guilty Wednesday afternoon to a murder charge stemming from a June 2017 house fire.

Tara Janae Maxfield pleaded guilty as charged to the Class A felony of second-degree murder, according to Butler County Prosecuting Attorney Kacey Proctor.

With her plea, the 44-year-old admitted to causing the death of Tommy Eugene Younger.

The defense, Proctor said, earlier had filed a motion seeking to suppress the statements Maxfield made to authorities.

“The court recently ruled in the state’s favor in the motion to suppress,” Proctor said. “Subsequently to that, a plea agreement was reached.”

As part of plea negotiations, Proctor said, the state agreed to a sentencing cap for 20 years.

“My recommendation will be 20, and she is free to ask for anything between 10 and 20,” Proctor said. Ten years is the mandatory minimum on the charge.

Presiding Circuit Judge Robert Mayer of the 35th Judicial Circuit ordered a sentencing assessment report be completed by Probation and Parole and set sentencing for Nov. 10. The case was moved to the 35th circuit from Poplar Bluff on a change of venue.

Proctor said Maxfield’s remaining charges — a Class A felony of first-degree arson and four Class B felonies of first-degree assault — will be dismissed at sentencing.

The charges against Maxfield stemmed from an investigation into a June 4, 2017, fire at 712 Poplar St.

According to earlier reports, Poplar Bluff firefighters found Younger, who was unconscious and barely breathing, inside his first-floor apartment after responding there at 10:43 a.m.

After rescuing the 57-year-old, he later died at Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center at about 5:30 p.m.

Maxfield had been accused of causing Younger’s death during her “attempted perpetration” of arson.

Maxfield also had been accused of assaulting Paul E. Boyer, Tony Frymire, Stephanie Kiper and Jodi Blackmore, who were inside the other apartments at the time she allegedly set the fire.

When firefighters arrived, they reportedly found heavy smoke and fire on the front of the home, which had been added on to and converted into three apartments.

According to Poplar Bluff Police Detective Andy Cleaveland’s probable-cause statement, Boyer had been trapped by the flames and “resorted to jumping from a second-story window to the ground, which was approximately 20 feet below.”

Boyer, he said, suffered what were described as minor injuries, as well as severe smoke inhalation, which required medical treatment.

Cleaveland said Frymire, Kiper and Blackmore had been trapped in a first-floor apartment and escaped through a window by moving a window-mounted air conditioning unit.

The cause of the fire was investigated by the State Fire Marshal’s Office and police detectives, and it was found to be arson.

During the investigation, Maxfield was identified as a person of interest.

Officers, Cleaveland said, were told Kiper had seen Maxfield, who was described as being in an “enraged condition,” outside the Poplar Street residence.

Maxfield subsequently was contacted and interviewed through the use of special equipment.

Although Maxfield initially denied being near the scene, she reportedly later admitted to starting the fire using a lighter to catch a blanket on fire.

The blanket, Cleaveland said, was on a couch on the front porch at the time it allegedly was lit on fire.

“Upon the ignition of the blanket, and then the couch, the front of the residence caught fire,” Cleaveland said.

The home reportedly had only one entrance on the front porch.