HOUSTON COUNTY, Ala. (WDHN) — A grand opportunity for a Houston County mom and her three kids has been ripped away after a home she was renting affordably and getting ready to move into was allegedly set on fire intentionally.
Chelsie Lynn had spent over a month remodeling the home from top to bottom inside for the big move-in day on Sunday, when the fire happened.
“I just feel like it was all a waste now I don’t see how someone can do that, maybe an abandoned place, but not somewhere where someone was living or about to move into,” Lynn said.
Lynn says she was on the way to drop off the last of her belongings at the home on Highway 84 East, and while she was on the way, she got a devastating call that her future home was on fire.
“I had started decorating and getting my daughter’s room ready, it would have been her first bedroom, all the sentimental things are lost stuff that can’t be replaced, plants, pictures, and paintings,” She said.
By the time she had arrived, the Houston County Sheriff’s Office had arrested Joshua Ingle, charging him with arson, as they say he set the home on fire. He was out on bond for previous arson charges.
Lynn says while those in the area knew who Ingle was, she does not believe she was a target, as she had no clue who he was.
“They said he did it to some older lady too, and I cant imagine being in the home and the house is on fire,” She added. “Luckily we weren’t there and were on the way there, but I don’t know why people do stuff like that.”
Now, as a young single mother of three working as a waitress at a seafood restuarant, she is left scrambling to find her next move.
“I was homeless, and all I knew was survival, and this was going to be my reward,” Lynn said. “This was something I could say is mine and I own even though I was renting.”
Lynn says she has received some help but is currently living in a RV temporarily while looking for storage space and needs financial help to get a new home.
She is taking donations through her CashApp $ChelsielynnJoiner.
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