Florida’s Burning Bed Case Takes New Turn

NEW PORT RICHEY, FL — The Pasco County Sheriff’s Office has announced new charges for the New Port Richey woman accused of lighting her estranged husband’s bed on fire while he slept in it. Deputies say Eva Marie Brennan, 48, also threatened a deputy’s family while on the way to the Land O’ Lakes Jail following her arrest on attempted murder and arson charges last week.

The sheriff’s office said the threats came while Brennan was in Deputy Samara’s vehicle on the way to jail. Authorities did not elaborate on the specific threats made, but said Brennan now faces corruption by threat against a public servant or family charges.

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Authorities have also released more details about the alleged arson that left Brennan’s 58-year-old husband, James Brennan Jr., injured.

After being read her rights, deputies say Eva Marie told them she did not intentionally set the fire. She instead said it was "possible she dropped a cigarette and caused the fire by accident," a Monday, July 31 email from the sheriff's office said. Her statement, however, “was inconsistent with physical evidence on the scene,” the email added.

The incident that led to Eva Marie’s initial arrest on attempted murder, arson and arson with a serious injury charges began to unfold on Wednesday, July 26, when she allegedly showed up at her husband’s Van Doren Avenue home while he had a female friend over.

Eva Marie, the report said, “expressed her anger over his having another woman there.” She, however, left the home she no longer shares with James Brennan Jr. without further incident.

Authorities say that changed around 5 a.m. July 27, when Eva Marie is accused of returning to the Van Doren Avenue home. Once there, she is accused of lighting James Brennan Jr.'s bed on fire near his feet. James told deputies he woke up and yelled for his son, James Brennan III. The two were able to pour pots of water on the burning mattress and eventually dragged it outside to fully put out the flames, an arrest report said.

James Brennan Jr. suffered minor burns as a result of the blaze, deputies noted. He had blistering on his right thumb and index finger along with burns on the bottom of his right foot, the report noted. He did not, however, report the incident to deputies right away. The change of heart came later in the day after Eva Marie “came back to his house and admitted to setting the fire before breaking several items within the home and fleeing the location on foot,” the report said.

A state fire investigator was called out to inspect the scene and determined the blaze began on the box spring and was set by an “open flame device under the control of human hands,” the report said. The arson investigator also told deputies that “mobile home fires have a high mortality rate due to their design and construction.”

Eva Marie Brennan remained in the Land O’ Lakes Jail Monday, July 31. She was being held in lieu of $115,000 bond, jail records indicate.

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Booking photo courtesy of the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office