Durham woman charged with arson in apartment fire investigation; Prosecutors say ‘kill list’ found

A Durham woman accused of setting an apartment fire that injured five people, including her mother and brother, was ordered held without bond Monday.

The judge ruled that 31-year-old Mahogany Massey poses a danger to the community.

Investigators say Massey maliciously set fire to the University Ridge Apartments, where her mother lived. The blaze displaced 18 residents and sent several people to the hospital. Massey’s father, Daron Massey, told ABC11 his daughter has struggled with severe mental illness for years and becomes unstable when she stops taking her medication.

“She’s bipolar schizophrenic. She’s paranoid schizophrenic. She sees stuff. She hears stuff,” he said.

He said his daughter had been off her medication for two months before the fire.

“I couldn’t make her take the medication. I couldn’t force her to take the medication,” he said. “I’d have her involuntarily committed and they would release her.”

Massey’s father believes she still doesn’t fully understand what happened. He said her mother spotted her outside the building while being carried out on a stretcher.

“Any normal person would say, ‘That’s my mom. She’s getting in an ambulance. Let me run over and see what’s wrong,'” he said. “She sat on the wall, looked at her, smoked a cigarette and drank a beer.

Didn’t run or move. Just watched what was going on like everybody else.”

Court documents show several people were injured, including three Durham firefighters, Massey’s mother and her brother.

“Her mother is still hospitalized with severe smoke inhalation,” a prosecutor said. “The brother went back in to save their mother and glass from the heat exploded, hit his arm and severed his artery. He almost bled out.”

During her first court appearance, Massey repeatedly interrupted the hearing, prompting the judge to continue the proceedings without her present. Prosecutors argued she should remain in custody without bond, saying investigators found what they described as a “people to kill” list among her belongings.

Read more: ABC 11