Salon Owner Charged With Arson, Murder For Firefighters’ Deaths

Two firefighters died while stopping a building fire from spreading to a nearby grocery store, and the grocery store owners are stunned that insurance fraud allegedly was the motive. Word quickly spread that Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker had filed two counts of second-degree murder and one count of first-degree arson against Thu Hong Nguyen. The 43-year-old woman is accused of setting her Independence Avenue nail salon on fire in an effort to collect insurance money. Authorities believe this is the third time she set a fire in an effort to collect insurance money.