Babysitter Accused of Setting Fire to Family's Home
She was annoyed with the girls she cared for, police say.
— -- A Texas woman was allegedly so annoyed with two girls she babysat, police say she decided to set their bedrooms on fire.
Martha Dreher is charged with arson, accused of setting a fire in the two girls' rooms while their father, Glenn Williams, was out of town with his daughters.
Dreher, 57, had worked for the family for a few months. She denied setting the fire at the family's home in Austin, Texas, but told investigators she was tired of dealing with the girls and wanted to quit, according to Williams.
"She said that it was horrible, that the girls -- my oldest -- had been very disrespectful," said Williams.
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Surveillance video captured Dreher driving up to the empty house earlier this month, then leaving 20 minutes later as flames were visible from the girls' bedroom, police say. Hours later, the girls' brother came home.
"My son Adam came in and said, 'Dad, I just went to the kitchen -- lot of smoke,'" Williams said.
The doors of the girls bedrooms were closed and the fire was contained to the two rooms, Williams told ABC affiliate KVUE-TV in Austin. No one was injured.
"They could have set the whole house on fire, and they actually closed the doors so the fire was maintained in those rooms and burned itself out. So it was definitely a vendetta against the two girls," he said.
Dreher has pleaded not guilty. Her attorney, Amber Bode, said Dreher had no reason to lash out at the girls.
"The thing that we are going to be pushing for -- in addition to, obviously, lie detector tests and everything else that we can do to prove her innocence -- is evidence," Bode said.
The Williams family is now gutting their 90-year-old historic home.
