An argument over personal belongings led a Minneapolis woman to start a fire in an apartment hallway last summer that eventually engulfed the building and left two people dead, according to charges filed Monday in Hennepin County District Court.
Deonna Marie Presbury, 35, is charged with two counts of second-degree murder and three counts of first-degree arson for the fire she is accused of setting in a four-story apartment building in the 1500 block of 11th Avenue S. in downtown Minneapolis on Aug. 13, 2024.
The Hennepin County Medical Examiner identified the two victims as Debbie Leshelle Allen, 59, and Kerry Sims, 66, and determined both died from inhaling smoke. After two arson investigations deemed the fire intentionally set, the Medical Examiner ruled homicide as the cause of their deaths. Two other victims were hospitalized for their injuries, including severe burns, and had to be rescued by ladder because the building’s roof collapsed. Twenty-seven people were displaced from the 22-unit building by the blaze.
The man arguing with Presbury later told her the fire killed two people and she was likely responsible. Presbury, who did not live in the building, allegedly responded, “Love will [expletive] you up anytime.”
Court documents show that Presbury was evicted from a Minneapolis apartment in 2021 over an intentionally set fire.
According to the charges:
Presbury was with her daughter in the hallway arguing with a resident who lived in a second floor apartment, demanding the return of personal items that Presbury said belonged to her — including bags of clothes, a green bike and pink in-line skates.
The man she was arguing with told police he returned those items to Presbury moments before the fire. Several witnesses, including another resident of the apartment, told police they heard a female yell expletives about killing the man and burning the building to the ground before smelling smoke.