Using Takis tortilla chips as a fire starter, Patricia Williams set a house in north Springfield ablaze with three people inside. Last week, she was sentenced to serve 12 years in prison after pleading guilty to first-degree arson.
The house at 2345 N. Weller Ave. was reported to be on fire the afternoon of Aug. 11, 2023. After officers from the Springfield Police Department responded, witnesses said the fire had been set intentionally. Williams was taken into custody on the scene and has remained in Greene County Jail since. According to the probable cause statement filed in the case, Williams had two active warrants for failure to appear in court at the time of the event. The 44-year-old woman had several run-ins with the law, according to Missouri court files, including stealing, tampering with a vehicle and assault.
The three people inside the home, including one resident who is wheelchair-bound and two visitors, all escaped without injury. According to a Springfield Fire Department news release, the relationship between Williams and the victims remains unclear.
Fire Marshal Travis Morrissey in his probable cause statement wrote that the victims saw Williams pour gasoline from a soda bottle onto clothes and the floor in the laundry room and proceed to ignite the Takis chips and toss them into the room. Morrisey notes that during a field flammability test, he determined the Takis chips could support a flame.
Williams later admitted to purchasing $2 worth of gasoline from a nearby gas station — surveillance video allegedly recorded the transaction — and using the chips to ignite the laundry room.
“Williams said she used the chips because she knew they would support combustion because of their grease content,” the probable cause statement read.
Morrissey, in the release, emphasized the role cooperation between police and firefighters played in the outcome of the case. Last year, the Springfield Fire Department investigated 34 fires classified as intentionally set. Those investigations, as well as multiple cases carried over from 2023, resulted in a total of 16 arrests on felony charges, according to the release.
SPRINGFIELD NEWS-LEADER