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Troy Hill fire tied to race; woman charged
Friday, November 03, 2000 By M. Ferguson Tinsley, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
A Troy Hill woman has been charged with arson and ethnic intimidation in a fire Oct. 13 that destroyed her neighbor's home two days after racial graffiti was scrawled on the sidewalk.
City arson Inspector William Hardy said he and arson Detective Al Selton arrested Marcy Nedzelski, 35, of 2157 Straubs Lane, yesterday at 1:30 p.m.
Hardy said Nedzelski has been charged with three counts of arson and one count of ethnic intimidation.
The two-alarm fire that broke out at 7:50 a.m. in Jannette Snow's rented home at 2162 Straubs Lane destroyed the building and Snow's possessions. Snow had just taken her 3-year-old daughter to a preschool a few blocks away when the fire started.
Hardy said Nedzelski told investigators she did it because she wanted Snow's biracial daughter out of the neighborhood.
Snow, 35, is white; her daughter, Naomi, is biracial.
"It was because of the baby and she didn't want that [baby] up there," Hardy said.
Hardy said Nedzelski barely knew Snow.
He said she used a crude Molotov cocktail made of kerosene to start the fire a few moments after Snow and her daughter left the house that morning.
Nedzelski had moved into the neighborhood with her husband only a few years before, Hardy said.
Nedzelski was in the Allegheny County Jail awaiting arraignment last night.
Neighbors said they were relieved that an arrest had been made.
Debbie Scholl, 33, who lives a few doors away from the burned house, said she has been upset since the fire and had no inkling that another neighbor two doors away may have caused it.
"I can't stop shaking ever since it happened," she said. "She could have done that to my house. You know I have a biracial niece and nephew. And their father, he's half Puerto Rican and half African-American and comes over here all the time."
The day of the fire, neighbors said the message written on the sidewalk in front of Snow's home sparked concerns about the safety and reputation of their close-knit community.
"Get out ... or we'll kill you" and "KKK" were scribbled on the front stoop.
Neighbors previously said they had seen other racial writings and threats near a bus loop and outside the home of a biracial couple on a different street.
A neighbor said Snow and her daughter had gone to live with relatives in Washington County.
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