Wife Set Sleeping Husband’s Bed Ablaze: Deputies

NEW PORT RICHEY, FL — A 48-year-old New Port Richey woman was arrested early Friday morning after Pasco County deputies say she lit her estranged husband’s bed on fire. The 58-year-old man was sleeping in it at the time, an arrest report said.

According to the sheriff’s office, the incident that led to Eva Marie Brennan’s arrest 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.

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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 and allegedly proceeded to light 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, the report said.

James Brennan Jr. suffered minor burns as a result of the blaze, deputies say. 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 was ultimately charged with three counts of attempted murder and one count of arson. The report noted James Brennan Jr.’s girlfriend was sleeping on the couch when the fire began. Her presence in the home prompted the third count of attempted murder.

Eva Marie Brennan was charged in the case shortly after midnight July 28. Booking information from the Land O' Lakes Jail is not yet available.

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Photo courtesy of the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office