Couple Charged With Murder in North Carolina Fire

Feb. 5, 2003
A man and a woman were charged with first-degree murder Tuesday for allegedly breaking into a mobile home, setting it on fire and leaving a 10-month-old girl inside to die when they fled.
ROCKINGHAM, N.C. (AP) -- A man and a woman were charged with first-degree murder Tuesday for allegedly breaking into a mobile home, setting it on fire and leaving a 10-month-old girl inside to die when they fled.

Authorities said the baby was in the home alone because her mother had left her to go to work.

Wayne Lee Davis, 41, and Janie Chavis, 33, are suspected of breaking into the home last Thursday and leaving Lizbeth Sanchez-Gomez behind even though they knew the home was on fire, Richmond County Sheriff Dale Furr said.

``They knew the child was in the house,'' Furr said. ``They knew there was a fire in the mobile home, and they left. That's first-degree murder.''

Chavis and Davis were also charged with first-degree arson, felony burglary and felony larceny. It was not immediately clear Tuesday whether they had attorneys.

The child's mother, Julia Gomez Vasquez, 38, was arrested Friday on a charge of second-degree murder. Vasquez was allowed to leave jail Monday to attend her child's funeral. The sheriff said she has six other children in Mexico.

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