Jasmine R. Miller (Johnson County Sheriff’s Office)
A 26-year-old woman in Indiana was arrested last week for allegedly using her methamphetamine-smoking butane lighter to set fire to her boyfriend’s house following an argument. Jasmine R. Miller was taken into custody last Thursday and charged with one count of arson — knowingly damaging by fire the dwelling of another without consent, a level-four felony, court records reviewed by Law&Crime show.
According to a probable cause affidavit obtained by the Daily Journal, firefighters in Johnson County at about 2:09 a.m. on March 30, 2023, responded to a house fire at a residence located in the 200 block of Restin Road, approximately 120 miles south of Indianapolis. Detectives with the county sheriff’s office arrived about an hour after the fire started and began the search for Miller, who allegedly started the fire before taking her daughter and fleeing the scene on foot. The home reportedly belonged to her then-boyfriend, whose name was not included in the report.
Investigators said that Miller started the fire over an argument with her boyfriend that began on the evening of March 29 about her being at a casino, the Journal reported. During the argument, Miller reportedly sent a text to her boyfriend saying she was going to “drive his f—— truck through [his house].”
The boyfriend was afraid Miller might be serious and filed a report with the sheriff’s office. As a direct result of his report, deputies reportedly arrested Miller when she left the casino and charged her with operating a vehicle without a license.
Miller’s boyfriend picked her up from jail in the early morning hours of March 30 and the two reportedly continued to fight, with Miller blaming him for her arrest. Before they arrived back at the house, Miller reportedly declared that she would be packing her things and moving to her mother’s house.
Miller then proceeded to pack some of her belongings into garbage bags and began loading them into her boyfriend’s truck, per the Journal. While loading the truck, Miller’s boyfriend said he smelled smoke and when he went inside to investigate he saw that all of the clothing in his closet had been set aflame.
“He observed his clothes [that were] hanging from racks on the north wall were on fire,” the affidavit reportedly states.
According to the Journal, the boyfriend briefly confronted Miller before making sure the house was clear of kids and pets. While he was checking the house, Miller reportedly fled the area on foot with her young daughter in tow.
In an interview with detectives, Miller’s boyfriend reportedly said she kept butane torch lighters in the house which she used for smoking meth and likely used to light the fire. In a backyard a few houses away from the boyfriend’s home, investigators reportedly found a purse containing two butane torch lighters and casino player cards in Miller’s name.
An investigator with the White River Township Fire Department determined that the cause of the fire was “incendiary” and the source of ignition was “an open flame being introduced to clothing,” Indianapolis Fox affiliate WXIN reported.
Following her arrest, Miller was booked at the Johnson County Jail where she is currently being held on $100,000 cash-only bond, jail records show.
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