Arson suspect 'loved the children'
In court, she denies role in fire at South Boston house that killed 2 sisters
Anger and pain were etched across Anna Reisopoulos's face yesterday as she sat in a South Boston courthouse looking at her former girlfriend, who was arraigned on charges of torching Reisopoulos's home and killing her two daughters.
Reisopoulos sometimes wept into a handkerchief as she stared at Nicole Chuminski, who pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder for the April 6 fire on West Sixth Street.
Chuminski, 25, of South Boston, shook her head in disagreement when the charges were read aloud in South Boston Municipal Court. Prosecutors said yesterday that she splashed the rowhouse with an accelerant, sending fire racing up the wall and trapping 14-year-old Acia Johnson and her 3-year-old sister, Sophia inside. Judge Roberto Ronquillo Jr. set bail at $1 million cash.
Chuminski's lawyer, William M. White, Jr., of Boston, told the court that Chuminski did not kill the girls, whom she had come to know through her four-month relationship with their mother.
"She loved the children," White said. "She would not do anything to harm the children."
While offering no specifics, White said Chuminski has witnesses who will exonerate her.
"She denies setting fire to this home." White said. "She did not do that. There are also witnesses who can verify that she did not have anything to do with it."
In court, Suffolk Assistant District Attorney David J. Fredette said Reisopoulos and Chuminski attended a wedding in Weymouth the night before the fire, and got into an argument that turned physical. "The defendant struck Ms. Reisopoulos about the head," he said.
He said witnesses later described hearing Chuminski shouting and banging on Reisopoulos's door before the fire. "She was put at the scene of the fire shortly before the fire started," Fredette said. "The accelerant found at the scene was also found on the defendant's clothing."
The prosecutor said, "These acts were not only cruel ,but cowardly in the way that they were done."
Reisopoulos did not speak to reporters after the 10-minute hearing, but a relative, Michael Davis, said she is struggling emotionally since losing two of her three children. Her son, Raymond Johnson Jr., who is Acia's twin, escaped the burning house.
"She is having a rough time with it," Davis told reporters outside the courthouse. "It's a rough ordeal to be going through."
Davis, who knows both women, said he believes Chuminski acted "out of rage or stupidity," but must be held accountable for the deaths of two innocent girls.
"I can't wish death on anybody, because it's not on me to decide who lives or dies; that's something for God himself," he said. "But I certainly don't want her breathing the same quality air that I'm breathing."
The hearing was attended by a handful of friends of Reisopoulos, as well as two of Chuminski's sisters. Outside the courthouse as Chuminski's sisters were getting into a car, Reisopoulos's friends angrily confronted the women.
One of Reisopoulos's friends held up a T-shirt with photos of the two children printed on it as she denounced Chuminski and her sisters, who did not respond to the shouts or to reporters asking for comments.
"I hope you can't sleep," shouted Aida Ramos. "I hope you can't sleep." 