GRANITE CITY – A Granite City woman remains in custody after admittedly setting a house on fire and telling the owner to “file an insurance claim.”
Kayla R. Hood, 29, of Granite City, was charged with a Class 2 felony count of arson on March 12, 2025.
On Dec. 23, 2024, Hood allegedly set fire to a residential property on Lee Avenue in Granite City.
A petition to deny Hood’s pretrial release states she admitted to setting the fire before contacting the homeowner.
“Defendant was identified as the subject leaving a residential property that was found by police engulfed in flames,” the petition states. “The fire investigator determined that the fire was of human origin. Defendant was located and admitted to being in the house prior to the fire, leaving a cigarette near some old rags and then contacting the homeowner to tell him to file an insurance claim.”
The petition to keep Hood detained was granted, with a detention order clarifying the cigarette was lit at the time of the incident. The detention order also states that while the house was already “uninhabitable,” it was located in a residential neighborhood near other homes.
Hood had previously been convicted of meth manufacturing in 2015, violating probation in 2016, and theft in 2020, each in Madison County.
The Granite City Police Department presented the case against Hood, who currently remains in custody.
All individuals charged are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
