Woman Charged With Murdering Roommates By Setting Edgewood Townhouse On Fire Held Without Bail
EDGEWOOD, Md. (WJZ) — Prosecutors said Wednesday in court that 60-year-old Bobbie Sue Hodge had a contentious relationship with her roommates and was about to be evicted from the Edgewood home she's accused of setting on fire.
Ernest Milton Lee, Kimberly Ann Shupe, and Dionne Dominique Hill all died in the arson in early May. Hodge faces five life sentences in their murders and the attempted murders of two other roommates.
"We intend to prove she is responsible for these horrible crimes," said Timothy Doory for the state. "People in Maryland cannot be safe with her wandering the streets."
Public defender Timothy Bahr said Hodge suffers from bone cancer. He asked that she be released on her own recognizance.
"We don't know a lot about the case," Bahr said. "Where's the concrete evidence she set the fire?"
He said Hodge maintains her innocence.
In a hint of a possible defense, Bahr referenced the fire scene was an illegal boarding house that required a sprinkler system. He mentioned comments by the state fire marshal that had those sprinklers been installed, the victims would not have died.
The prosecution revealed Hodge was arrested two days after she returned to Maryland from Texas.
She has 15 prior convictions in Texas and Montana.
Hodge spoke to WJZ the morning of the fire.
She said she the smoke alarm woke her up. "People who live in the basement with me woke up screaming. 'Get out! Fire!'" Hodge said at the time. "I exploded into tears. I started praying for the people who perished. ...I heard them screaming. We've got to say a prayer for them."
Judge Kerwin Miller, Sr. called Hodge a "danger to the community" and ordered that she remain behind bars.
Her next court appearance is scheduled for August.
