Prosecutors: Mount Prospect woman intentionally set 2019 apartment fire

A Mount Prospect woman was ordered held on $75,000 bail Thursday on charges she set fire to her bed and headboard last year.

Marilu Bautista-Romero, 46, is charged with aggravated arson stemming from the May 31, 2019, blaze at her apartment on Hawthorne Circle.

According to prosecutors, she told police she was grief-stricken over the death of her husband of 25 years when she returned from a birthday party early that morning.

While one of her sons slept in the living room, Bautista-Romero entered her bedroom and used a lighter to set fire to her bed, pillow and headboard, said Assistant Cook County State's Attorney Nicole Murphy.

Bautista-Romero then called another son, who arrived moments later.

Breaking a window, he "observed a large quantity of black smoke" and pulled his mother out of the apartment. The son alerted other residents and told them they had to leave the building, said Murphy. No one was injured.

Bautista-Romero at first told police and firefighters that the fire broke out after a candle overturned, Murphy said. However, arson investigators noted "the candles she alleged were the cause were not tipped over," Murphy said. Investigators also uncovered two separate start points and a partially melted lighter, she said.

Bautista-Romero later told authorities she set the fire because "she was drunk and upset about the recent death of her husband and wanted to die," Murphy said.

Bautista-Romero is scheduled to return to court May 27.