Overview

• Gendarmes arrested the 76-year-old in Castelmayran on suspicion of setting a series of fires since 2022, and she acknowledged responsibility for at least 12 starts.
• Investigators seized lighters from her vehicle and firelighters from her home that matched the described method used in the incidents.
• The ignition method involved throwing one or more firelighters onto embankments bordering dry, short vegetation, according to the Montauban prosecutor.
• After a brief initial appearance, the court granted her request to postpone the expedited hearing to October 3, and she remains in pretrial detention.
• Prosecutors cited a stated motive of frustration toward local residents, and she faces charges of destroying others’ property by means dangerous to people.