Suspect in Southie fire to be arraigned

 

 

BOSTON. A South Boston woman accused of setting the fire that killed two sisters last month after a feud with the victims’ mother is expected to face murder charges today.

Nicole Chuminski, who turns 26 next Monday, was arrested late last week in connection with the deaths of 14-year-old Acia Johnson and her 2-year-old sister, Sophia Johnson. The girls were found dead, clutching each other inside a closet, early in the morning of April 6 after a blaze ripped through their apartment.

Authorities allege that Chuminski, who reportedly dated the girls’ mother, Anna Reisopoulos, went to the West Sixth street apartment building early that morning reeling from an earlier spat with the mother.

Chuminski lit the apartment on fire and bolted before it spread, authorities said.

The fire soon engulfed the entire building and the sisters were trapped on the third floor.
Reisopoulos was not home at the time.

An accelerant found on the door frame of the apartment matched an accelerant found on a shirt Chuminski wore after the fire, and authorities determined that the suspect was at the scene of the fire around the time it began.

Chuminski faces two charges of murder, as well as a single count of arson of a dwelling.