Police question second 'person of interest' in fatal South Chicago arson

FOX 32 NEWS - Chicago police have been questioning a second "person of interest" in the fire on Essex Avenue that took four lives earlier this week.

There are still no suspects or arrests in the case.

Three sisters - Shaniya Staples, Madison Watson, and Melanie Watson - died in the fire, in addition to 56-year-old Kirk Johnson. Police believe the fire was intentionally set, but have made no arrests.

During the first two days after the apartments went up in flames, police questioned a person of interest. He was a middle aged man who lived down the block. A building resident, Latoya Terry, told reporters that she had turned the man away in a dispute over ten dollars and that he likely started the fire.

“I closed and locked the door in his face. He began to kick and punch my door, I ignored the kicking and punching, right then and there is when I should have called the police,” Terry had said.

Police called the man a person of interest and questioned him for more than a day. But on Friday, he was released.

Now, police have labeled another individual as a person of interest, and it's Latoya Terry, who had pointed the finger at her neighbor.

Terry has been questioned extensively by police, but they're not calling her a suspect.  Two nights ago, FOX 32 revealed that Terry is a convicted arsonist. She was sentenced to six years in prison for setting fire to a Chicago Heights home back in 2007.

According to media reports, she had been evicted from that home and returned a few days later and set it on fire. A records check Friday revealed no evidence of any recent eviction actions against Terry at the Essex avenue apartments.

When FOX 32 asked her on Wednesday about her previous arson conviction, she said she's been meeting with state's attorneys and they have told her she is not a suspect.

In addition to investigating those persons of interest, police are awaiting lab results from evidence gathered at the scene of the fire.

One reason investigators believe this is a case of arson is that the fire appeared to take off in two different parts of the building.