It is an act that might help bring closure to the mother of a little girl who was brutally murdered as the mom gets to set fire to the house where her seven-year-old was killed. INSIDE EDITION explains.
A house of horrors burned to the ground and you won't believe who started the fire. It was none other than the mother of a little girl who was brutally murdered there.
Diena Thompson was surrounded by firefighters as she donned a helmet and fireproof jacket and lobbed a flaming torch into the house near Jacksonville, Florida.
She said, “I get to burn their house down. I am the big bad wolf this time, knocking down your door.”
Diena managed a small smile as she watched the inferno. It's only a tiny measure of revenge for the shocking crime that changed her life forever.
Her seven-year-old daughter, Somer, was walking home from school in 2009 when she was lured inside the house by a neighbor, Jarred Harrell. He sexually assaulted and strangled Somer and then dumped her body in the trash.
Somer's twin brother, Samuel, electrified the nation in 2012 by shouting at the child killer in court.
In court, the little boy said, “She trusted you, but you did what you had to do what you did and look where it got you! And now you're going to jail!”
Somer's older sister, Abigail, also broke down on the stand, “You're not even a human being. Your name is not Jarred Harrell. Your name is monster!”
Diena, Abigail, and Samuel gathered to see the house go up in flames.
It was foreclosed and the bank gave it to a foundation set up in little Somer's name. Her mom then turned around and gave it to local firefighters so they could burn it down as a training exercise.
Diena said, “What other option is there, really? She is my daughter and deserves nothing but glory for being the sacrificial lamb and if she saves another child, then we have done something right."
Now, the house of horrors is no more as a grieving mom wipes it off the face of the Earth.