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Mother testifies fatal fire began after lover pounded on door

E-mail|Link February 5, 2010 06:39 PM

By Milton J. Valencia, Globe Staff

The mother of two children killed in a fire two years ago in South Boston testified that she heard her lover pounding on the door and cursing her on the night of the fire. She went back to bed, she said, but then heard a crackling sound and saw an "orange ball of flames."

Anna Reisopolous wept constantly as she testified today in the Suffolk Superior Court murder trial of her lover, Nicole Chuminski. Chuminski is charged with setting the April 6, 2008 fire that killed Reisopolous's children, Acia Johnson, 14, and Sophia, 3.

"I heard banging on my front door downstairs," Reisopolous testified. "I could hear the doorknob as if the door was trying to be opened."

In a recorded interview with police played for the jury Thursday, Chuminski said she and Reisopolous had argued after they attended a Weymouth wedding reception for one of Chuminski's relatives -- and Reisopolous allegedly stole Chuminski's cousin's wallet.

Reisopolous gave her account today of what happened at the wedding, saying she was told she had to leave. She said people helped her to get to the Red Line after she had to leave the event.

Reisopolous also testified that Chuminski had been at her house earlier in the day so Acia could braid her hair.

An enraged Chuminski, 27, allegedly threw a firebomb at the front door of the house. Prosecutors say an accelerant found on the door was also found on Chuminski's clothes. Earlier in the trial, firefighters testified that the blaze had burned with an unusual intensity.

In the recorded interview played for the jury, Chuminski denied being at the house. "I didn't go by there last night. You keep asking me that," she said.