Arson that claimed woman's life still unsolved

70-year-old woman dies in house fire in 2008

DETROIT – Marsha Hudson's 70-year-old mother died in a fire three years ago that was ruled arson. Now, Hudson said she still hasn't given up hope that police will find whoever is responsible.

"I just really miss her. She was a great part of my life and now I don't' have that. That's been taken from me," Hudson said.

Hudson said someone lit a vacant house on Forrer Street in Detroit ablaze during the early morning hours of Oct. 20, 2008. The fire spread to the house where her mother, Doreen Askins, was asleep.

"An innocent victim sleeping in her bed, then a fire broke out. She tried to scuffle through the house," she said. "She tried to get out the front door and she couldn't. It was swollen shut. So, she went to the back door and the furnace blew."

Hudson said she knows someone knows something.

"I'm just trying to get someone to come forward. I know that there were three people seen running from the fire. I know somebody out there had to have seen something," she said.

Askins' home was torn down after the fire and her family donated it to charity.

"It's changed my whole life. It's changed the whole family's whole life," Hudson said.

Anonymous tips can be left with Crime Stoppers at 800-SPEAKUP.


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