Austin Woman Charged With First-Degree Arson For Duplex Fire

Austin, MN (KROC-AM News) - Conditional bail has been set at $50,000 for an Austin woman accused of setting a fire inside an Austin duplex earlier this week.

The criminal complaint against 32-year-old Galisha Sally Rivers says she admitted to an investigator that she started the fire Tuesday afternoon after becoming upset with a man living in the residence. The court document says he was the person who called 911 from the upstairs of the home before he jumped from a second-floor window to escape the fire and suffered a broken leg. An Austin police officer also reported that six other people, two adults and four juveniles, were able to safely evacuate from the burning house.

According to the criminal complaint, a witness reported that the man with the broken leg called her around 3 PM and said he could spell smoke and that smoke alarms were going off in the home. She stated he also told her that he could hear Rivers saying "fire, fire, fire" and laughing. The witness also indicated that he heard her screaming "there's a fire, there's a fire," and it sounded like she was singing the words.

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The court document says investigators learned that law enforcement had been called to the residence in the days leading up to the fire and those visits resulted in Rivers being sent to Mayo Clinic Health Services in Austin. She was released from the health facility on Monday and went back to the duplex. The criminal complaint also states that her father reported concerns that she was not taking her medications, and when she is off her medications, "she tends to get violent and aggressive."

Rivers was arraigned today in Mower County Court on a first-degree arson charge. She is scheduled to return to court next week for another hearing.