Rockmart woman confesses to setting house on fire, says she was ‘tired of dealing with it’

POLK COUNTY, Ga. – A 37-year-old Rockmart woman, Jessica Louise Jones, was arrested on September 13, 2023, and charged with first-degree arson after confessing to setting a house on fire. An off-duty Polk County Police officer was approached at his home by his neighbor, who reported that a woman had started a fire at their home.

As additional officers arrived, they spotted a White woman walking west on Clearwater Street. They also saw “a man waving and running around his yard a few houses down.”

Behind the man, they observed “black smoke coming from the back of the house” and contacted the fire department. The man told the officers that the woman had “started the fire” and identified Jones.

They asked him if anyone was still inside the home, and he replied that he was “not sure, maybe a cat.” The officers ran to the rear of the house and saw that “the living room was fully engulfed in flames.”

The smoke proved too thick for the officers to enter, so they called out to anyone possibly inside but received no response. A cat rushed outside through the open door.

They cleared the scene, evacuated immediate neighbors, and began interviewing the victims, witnesses, and suspect. The man explained that he and his girlfriend “were living with his cousin, Jessica Jones.”

He said Jones “had been threatening to burn the house down” for several weeks, and today, he “woke up to the house filled with smoke.”

He attempted to put out a chair that was on fire, “but it [the fire] was too big to do so.” He had no phone, so he ran across the street to the off-duty officer’s house for assistance. Security footage corroborated his account.

The officers interviewed Jones and immediately noticed “cut marks on her left wrist and forearm.” She told them she “was upset due to [her cousin] and his girlfriend staying in the home and not helping with any responsibilities.”

She said they “did not have utilities, and she was just done with the home.” She explained that she had inherited the home from her mother, and “if everybody is going to wreck the house, then she will just burn it.”

She confessed to using a lighter to set a recliner on fire because she “was tired of dealing with it.” They arrested, handcuffed, and transported Jones to the Polk County Jail, where she faces a first-degree arson charge.

This case is pending in court.