A Kingston woman was arrested for Arson and another related charge. It all began on October 4 when the newly hired Madill Officer Anna Gerard responded to a structure fire at the Madill Inn. Gerard said she and Madill Sergeant Chris Smith knew that Vikki Weaver was the tenant in the room due to dealing with her the day prior.
When the officers arrived on scene, they were instantly greeted with smoke coming out of room 105. A person in one of the adjacent rooms notified Gerard that he had grabbed a fire extinguisher and put out the fire, but there was still smoke billowing out of the room.
Smith attempted to look inside the room to make sure Weaver, or anybody else for that matter, might still be in the room. Apparently, there was nobody in the room.
Gerard had to evacuate a total of nine people from the adjacent rooms for their safety. Madill Fire arrived on scene, and officers advised that they could not distinguish if Weaver was still in the room. Once the fire department was able to gain entry into the room, the saw that nobody was in the room. However, they found second fire in the kitchen area.
Once they were certain nobody was in grave danger, Gerard began collecting statements from witnesses. One witness, who happens to work at the hotel, said that the residents of room 104 had already checked out. They were the ones who informed the owner of the fire.
The guests stated that they saw Weaver on her porch before they left, which was a little before 7:00 a.m. that morning.
Gerard requested the owner to look at the video and see if they could notice anything out of the ordinary, like a fire. The owner watched the tapes and at 6:50 a.m., the video showed the neighboring tenants loading their car to leave. The report also stated that the glow from the fire in room 105 was visible on the video.
While the Fire Department was taping off the room and waiting for the State Fire Marshall, Gerard and Smith set out to locate Weaver. They were unlucky during the patrol, until Gerard recalled Weaver wanting McDonald’s the day before. As luck would have it, they noticed Weaver walking near the Madill Mart while on their way to McDonalds.
Smith reached Weaver first and began questioning her once Gerard was close enough. According to the police report, Weaver did not hesitate when asked what happened to her room.
“She was asked what happened at her room and she admitted to setting the room on fire,” noted the police report.
Weaver allegedly told police that she was “tired of everything being done to her and did it out of retaliation.” She claimed she had been kept up all night and was not able to take a shower. These two actions allegedly made her mad enough to start the blaze. According to the report, “she stated everyone is sent to mess with her and she has been given the silent treatment which is a form of messing with her.”
Weaver, the 64-year-old female from Kingston, was arrested and booked into the Marshall County Jail for First-Degree Arson, and Endangering Others While Committing Arson.
According to the report, Weaver decided to lay out exactly what caused her to light the fire in the room.
“She stated she was upset about the lack of sleep and the intent of harm from the neighbors and all of the things that were happening to her and decided she was going to get retaliation on everyone there involved. She stated she had a comforter and pillow and a pillowcase in the floor in the kitchen area of her room because she had been sleeping in there due to not being able to shower because her neighbors were always showering when she wanted to.”
“She stated that things quieted down so she decided to go lay in the bed on top of the comforter,” the report continued. “She stated that the noise and radio frequency communications started again and she decided to start the fire. She stated the went to the kitchen area and took the pillowcase and lit it on fire in three places and gently placed it on the floor to catch the curtains on fire…She stated she wasn't going to stay in the room and burn up so she walked into the area where the bed is and lit the bed on fire on the way out. She stated she walked outside and sat on a chair and waited while she smoked a cigarette.”
Weaver, aliases include Vikki Davis and Vikki Self, have two other Arson convictions. She has one in Marshall County from 2002 and one from Denton, Texas from 2004.
Allegedly, she said there was another Arson she was involved in, but it was deemed caused by electrical.