A 19-year-old woman has been arrested for arson for allegedly setting a mobile home on fire on Kickapoo Tribal land in southwest Lincoln County where two burned bodies were found.
Timothy Downing, U.S. Attorney for the western district of Oklahoma, announced late last week that Desma Valdez was arrested as she was released from the hospital on Jan. 1.
She reportedly was injured as a result of the fire and taken to the Emergency Room at OU Medical Center and later transferred to the Intensive Care Unit for treatment of injuries including smoke inhalation.
The U.S. Attorney’s office alleged Valdez was staying in the mobile home with the two individuals whose bodies were found.
Valdez reportedly made her initial appearance on Jan. 2 before U.S. Magistrate Judge Gary M. Purcell.
The U.S. Attorney’s office said, according to an affidavit in support of the criminal complaint filed Dec. 31, 2019, that Valdez deliberately set fire to the home.
According to that affidavit, Valdez admitted to Kickapoo Tribal Police Detective Sciortina that she “lit them on fire.”
The affidavit states that Valdez identified the two individuals inside the residence as “Kaulaity” and “Rice.” It also says law enforcement has preliminary identified the two victims as Tyler Kaulaity, 22, and Daisica Nashawn Rice, 20.
It further notes no official identification has been made by the State Medical Examiner’s Office, where their bodies were transported to several hours following the fire the afternoon of Dec. 28. The Medical Examiner’s Office is yet to release cause of death.
The affidavit further confirms Valdez told FBI Special agents Steve Weber and Michael Adams that she poured gasoline on the bottom of a mattress the two victims were laying on and that it got on both of their feet.
Valdez told agents she was in her grandmother’s home with Rice, who was her sister, and Rice’s boyfriend, Kaulaity. They didn’t have permission to be in the house and they broke into it, she admitted to agents.
All three were consuming alcoholic beverages, the affidavit states.
The 19-year-old Valdez and Kaulaity got into multiple verbal and physical altercations the day of the fire and Kaulaity reportedly slapped Valdez in the face, grabbed her, squeezed her tightly and at one point threw her into a refrigerator.
Agents said Valdez told them she feared Kaulaity was going to hurt her. She reportedly confronted Rice, her sister, asking why she allowed her men to do this to her.
There was one altercation during which Rice had to separate the two, and she made her boyfriend leave the house, Valdez told agents, and that Rice later let him back in the house.
After that, Rice and Kaulaity reportedly went to sleep and Valdez advised agents she fell asleep.
Later, she woke up and started drinking vodka and began getting angry, the affidavit says. After about two hours, Valdez told agents she went outside, got a red plastic container with gasoline in it. She cut her arm with a piece of broken glass she found inside the house.
She poured gasoline on the bottom of the mattress and it got on Kaulaity’s and Rice’s feet, the agents were told. Valdez reportedly screamed at them to get up, holding a lighter in her hand. She threatened to kill herself and told the two “you can go down with me,” according to the affidavit.
After telling them to both leave, Valdez told her sister she was done with this and done with everyone making her feel bad.
Kaulaity and Rice apparently woke up before the fire started. Rice apparently tried to stop Valdez, but when Rice grabbed her, Valdez claimed, the lighter fell from her hand and caught the mattress on fire.
The mattress was near the curtains by a TV and they caught on fire as did the legs and feet of Rice and Kaulaity’s legs, Valdez claimed.
Before Valdez left the home, she thought Rice was in the kitchen. She told agents she tried to go back and help Rice but th fire was too hot.
As the two agents were conducting the interview with Valdez, a search warrant of the residence was being executed at the same time by both the ATF and FBI, the affidavit states.
ATF Senior SpecialAgent Certified Fire Investigator Ashley Stephens determined the fire originated in the living room near center of the residence and the cause of the fire to be incendiary, the affidavit said.
The cause of death of the two found inside the mobile home is still under investigation.
The case is charged in federal court because the alleged crime took place in Indian Country, the U.S. Attorney explained.
Warren Welt, who is fire chief of the Southwest Lincoln County Fire Department, said the mobile home was located directly east of the Kickapoo Casino and south of U.S. 62.
His department was the first fire crews to arrive on the scene after receiving the call about 1:33 p.m.
His firefighters advised him when they got to the scene the mobile home was about 80 percent engulfed.
“Our guys said they made limited entry to preserve the scene. They did a primary search initially and didn’t locate anyone.”
Welt said his men later found two people deceased in the burned mobile home.
He said a third individual was treated by REACT EMS, his firemen told him and taken to a hospital.
The U.S. Attorney said if found guilty, Valdez faces a maximum potential penalty of life in prison, five years of supervised release, a fine of $250,000, and mandatory restitution.