Landlord Charged with Murder for Deadly Cicero Fire

The landlord of a west suburban building that burned down on Valentines Day , killing seven people, had his maintenance man set the fire for the insurance money, prosecutors alleged Friday morning.

The landlord, Lawrence J. Myers, 60, of 3217 S. 50th Ave. in Cicero, and the building manager, Marion A. Comier, 47, of 5300 W. 30th Place in Cicero, were each charged with seven counts of first-degree murder and two counts of aggravated arson, according to a release from the Town of Cicero.

The two were ordered held without bond by Judge James Zafiratos on Friday morning at the Maywood courthouse.

Myers owned a struggling building in Wisconsin and had the fire set in Cicero to help his financial situation, prosecutors said.

"It's chilling that someone would steep so low to set a house on fire at 6:30 on a Sunday morning," said Cook County State's attorney Anita Alvarez.

Prosecutors say after he was arrested Wednesday, Myers essentially admitted to the crime while talking to a Cicero police detective.

"He told a Cicero detective at that time that he told Andre to set the house on fire when the children were at school and the women were at work," said Assistant State's attorney Mary Lacy. "He said he wanted the house gone to receive the insurance money and that he's in great financial trouble."
 

In a conversation taped on Feb. 19 by an informant wearing a wire, Myers is heard talking about Comier after the blaze, prosecutors said. He allegedly said the fire was supposed to be set when the children were in school.

It was unknown who Myers was talking to.

Prosecutors read from a transcript of the conversation: “I told him to do it in the afternoon before the kids came home from school. I told him I’d give him $3,000 ... I told him not to hurt anybody,”

“[Myers] was afraid Comier would hurt himself doing it,” Asst. State’s Atty. Mary Lacy said. “And he said ‘I’m surprised [the investigators] didn’t pick up the smell of gasoline [inside the house]’.”

Three witnesses came forward after hearing the man talking about the plot, authorities said.

The two men were taken into custody March 3rd, the release said.

Myers had offered to pay Comier to set the fire, authorities said. Comier mixed gasoline and oil to hide the smell and lit the fatal blaze, authorities said.

The fire killed Sallie Gist, 18; Gist's two children, Rayshawn Reed, 3, and newborn Byron Reed; her twin siblings, Elisha and Elijah Gist, 16; her boyfriend, Byron Reed, 20; and family friend Tiera Davidson, 19.

"Right now, I'm just hurt. I'm at a loss for words, you know?" said Elijah Grays, who lost three children and two grandchildren in the fire. "Why would you do something like that to anybody? We live in a great country. Money ain't that important."

Their deaths, in a small apartment packed with a dozen sleeping people in a building that was home to more than 20 in three units, restarted questions about crowding in apartments in Cicero.

Myers and Comier could face the death penalty if convicted.

Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report.