Champaign woman charged with attempting to burn down garage attached to family home

Feb. 21—URBANA — A Champaign woman was charged Tuesday with allegedly trying to burn down a garage attached to a building that two people were inside of.

Champaign County Judge Brett Olmstead arraigned Bobby D. Miller, 63, on charges of aggravated arson while knowing people were present, residential arson and arson.

Champaign County State's Attorney Julia Rietz said Miller was arrested Saturday after emergency personnel responded to a house fire in the 1600 block of Williamsburg Drive in Champaign around 8:45 p.m. that night. No one was hurt.

The house was where Miller and her husband had previously lived together, but her husband no longer lived there as the two were going through a divorce, Rietz said.

Witnesses allegedly told police that they saw Miller enter a garage attached to the house, and the garage became engulfed in flames shortly after she left it. Witnesses also reported hearing Miller on that night say she wanted to burn the house down, Rietz said.

The fire marshal indicated that the flames were started by "human intervention" because there were allegedly no other sources of ignition where the fire started.

Miller's husband was not present when the fire was started, but a family member and that family member's friend were in the house when the fire was started, Rietz said.

Olmstead ruled Tuesday that Miller may be released from jail on conditions while she awaits a pending trial. The judge granted Assistant State's Attorney Joel Fletcher's motion that Miller receive a mental health evaluation and have no contact with her husband.

Miller faces between six and 30 years in prison for aggravated arson, a Class X felony. She is next scheduled to appear in court in April.