It didn't take all that long for investigators to find the cause of the March 28 fire that destroyed two floors of a northeast Houston office building: Misty Ann Weaver, a 33-year-old nurse in a plastic surgeon's office, has confessed to setting the fire in an attempt to keep her job. According to investigators, Weaver hadn't finished paperwork related to an accreditation audit for her boss, Dr. Robert Capriotti, so she set what she thought would be a small fire to cover up that fact. It seems Weaver had no idea the fire would end up killing three people and injuring three more: "I don't even think she could foresee the destruction here or what was going to happen," HFD arson investigator Roy Paul told KPRC.
According to the Chronicle, ATF agents had questioned Weaver earlier in their investigation into the fire; on Saturday afternoon, they called her back to clear up some discrepancies in her earlier account, and that's when she confessed to setting the fire. It's not clear yet exactly how Weaver started the fire or whether oxygen tanks in Capriotti's office helped it spread: The Chronicle reports that several of the tanks were intact after the fire, but some weren't. The fire has raised old concerns about mid-rise, atrium-style buildings like the one that burned — because of changing building codes, dozens of those buildings aren't required to have complete sprinkler and alarm systems.
Weaver has been charged with three counts of murder and one count of felony arson; she was being held yesterday on combined bonds of $330,000. Meanwhile, Capriotti told the Chronicle that Weaver was a model employee whose admission shocked him: "Everything was positive," he said. "We were just looking forward to the future, which is now dissolved.
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