KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The family of John Mesh, one of the firefighters killed in a fire October 12 on Independence Avenue, came face-to-face on Wednesday with the woman prosecutors say intentionally set the fire.
The Mesh family was in court as Thu Hong Nguyen went before a judge.
Nguyen is charged with arson and two counts of second-degree murder for setting fire to her nail salon.
LN Salon and Spa was on the first floor of the burned out building.
Prosecutors say Nguyen poured acetone and isopropyl alcohol in the stock room of the salon, lit it on fire and then left the building to burn.
Right after Nguyen appeared in court, FOX 4 caught up with her son at their Kansas City home. He says investigators have it all wrong.
“She has four kids including me,” her son Cuong Nguyen said. “We struggled our whole life coming up here. There’s no way she would risk that.”
But prosecutors believe she risked it all for insurance money.
Court records show Nguyen received insurance payouts from two previous fires, one in 2013 another in January of this year.
“Those fires slowly destroyed our lives,” her son says. “We had to keep on moving. No kid should have to keep on moving, make new friends.”
“She was worried about the firefighters,” her son adds. “She goes, can we do something to help the firefighters like run out there, like it’s still settling in we can do anything for them. You know, that’s all she was worried about. She didn’t care about the insurance money.”
Firefighters Larry Leggio and John Mesh were killed in the fire.
According to court documents, Nguyen was questioned by ATF investigators at least twice and her statements conflicted surveillance video from nearby businesses, other witness statements and her own cell phone records.
“She doesn’t know what she’s doing,” her son says. “She doesn’t understand you guys. She panics. She will say whatever comes to mind.”
“Ask me this, if you were guilty would you willingly go with the police?” Cuong asks. “No, you would run. She didn’t do anything that’s why she went to cooperate.”
Now Nguyen is sitting in jail, leaving her son to defend her.
“This is hard,” Cuong adds. “She’s all I have. I don’t have a dad.”
Nguyen will remain in jail until her next court appearance on November 12 unless she comes up with a $ 2 million cash bond.
The Tran family that owns this building declined to make a statement about their former tenant or the charges against her.
