Prosecutors Play Tapes Of Landlord Discussing Fatal Fire
(CBS) – Prosecutors presented a major piece of evidence Friday in the trial of a landlord accused of setting fire to his Cicero building and killing seven people.
Authorities played what they claim is a taped confession, CBS 2's Chris Martinez reports.
With an unbroken gaze, Larry Myers seemed unaffected hearing his own words. Others, though, couldn't help but react.
Natalie Newton lost three cousins on Valentine's Day 2010. One of them was just 3 days old.
"All you're talking about is money. It doesn't make any sense to me, it's very emotional," she said.
The apartment home burned, the end result of a plot hatched by Myers, prosecutors claim. They say he enlisted a maintenance man so that he could collect insurance money.
The jury heard 90 minutes of audio recordings that were conversations between Myers and a former friend. He allegedly talks about the scheme, saying "I didn't want anybody hurt" and saying he would have set the fire himself "in the afternoon, just before the kids got back from school."
Myers is representing himself. His trial continues Monday.
Both he and the maintenance man, Andre Comier, are charged with first-degree murder.
