Woman Held In Fatal Southie Fire Case

BOSTON -- With tears streaming down her face, the woman accused of setting a South Boston townhouse fire that killed two young sisters last month pleaded not guilty to charges she caused their deaths.

Her lawyer said Nicole Chuminski, 25, loved the victims, Acia Johnson, 14, and her younger sister, Sophia, 2. Both girls perished in a raging fire that consumed their mother's West Sixth Street townhouse in Southie early on the morning of April 6.

Chuminski was arrested Friday after authorities said they found traces of the accelerant used to set the fire on some of her clothing. Chuminski pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder and one count of arson.

Her attorney said Chuminski had a relationship with the children's mother and had come to know and care for the girls.

"She loved the children. She would not have done anything to harm those children," Chuminski's attorney William White told South Boston Municipal Court Judge Roberto Ronquillo, Jr.

While the girls' mother, Anna Reisopoulos, 38, sobbed and shook on a courtroom bench nearby, White asked that Chuminski be released on bail, saying she was not a flight risk.

Assistant District Attorney David Fredette, however, said Chuminski had argued with Reisopoulos hours before at a wedding reception where Chuminksi had accused Reisopoulos of stealing a relative's wallet. Witnesses said they saw her hitting Reisopoulos on the head.

"There's witnesses that put the defendant out in front of the house banging on the door and swearing, indicating that -- in her mind -- somebody is in that house. She then, as I said, the evidence shows, she sets fire to a house that is attached on both sides to other houses. As I said, these acts are not only cruel but cowardly, in the way it was done," Fredette said.

Fredette said the blaze was deliberately set and urged the judge to hold Chuminski without bail.

Ronquillo ordered Chuminski held on $1 million bail and scheduled a probable cause court hearing for May 19.

After the hearing, the children's relatives talked about the case.

"I can't wish death on anybody, because it's not on me to decide who lives or dies, you know, it's up to God himself. But, I really don't want her breathing the same quality air I'm breathing," relative Michael Davis said.