Woman charged with burning down historic Eastern Kentucky building
A woman has been charged by federal authorities with burning down a historic building in Eastern Kentucky, according to court documents.
The fire happened late July 30 at Lincoln Hall on the Grace Covenant Ministries campus. Court documents say the building was destroyed, and the roof collapsed onto the lower level.
Shelia Clemons was charged with arson of property affecting interstate commerce. Court documents say she reached into a broken basement window and lit a piece of paper on fire inside the building.
Lincoln Hall was the main classroom for the Annville Institute, a technical school founded in 1909. The building hasn’t been used since 1978 but was being renovated into a Christian academy before the fire.
The building and property now belong to Grace Covenant Ministries, which offers day camps, veteran outreach programs and other services. Court documents say Lincoln Hall was in the initial phase of construction for renovations, which included installing an elevator shaft in the three-story building.
Workers had been building the elevator shaft for two years, and it was scheduled to be completed in September, according to court documents.
Video surveillance from the Barnabas Home, about 700 feet from Lincoln Hall, showed a vehicle parking near the building before the fire started and leaving afterward, according to court documents. Investigators determined the vehicle belonged to Clemons, but she originally told investigators she was at her mother’s house when the fire broke out.
Clemons later admitted to being in the vehicle seen in surveillance video but not to starting the fire, according to court documents.
Investigators also spoke to Clemons’ ex-husband, who is the groundskeeper for Grace Covenant Ministries and lives on campus. He told investigators Clemons was at his house the night of the fire but left about 90 minutes before it was reported to get gas.
Clemons returned shortly after and threatened to kill herself and her ex-husband, according to court documents. She left the home the second time about 10 minutes before the fire was reported.
Clemons was later interviewed by special agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Court documents say she eventually admitted to starting the fire.
Clemons intended for the fire to be a nuisance, court documents say. All four volunteer fire departments in Jackson County — the Pond Creek Fire Department, the Gray Hawk Fire Department, the Sand Gap Fire Department and the City of McKee Fire Department —along with several fire departments from other counties responded to the fire, according to the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office.
“I would like to thank those fireman who responded for their diligent efforts this night, and for their continued efforts in monitoring the situation since the night the fire started,” the sheriff’s office said in a Facebook post.
The ATF is asking for anyone with videos or photos of the fire to submit them to the agency as part of the investigation. The sheriff’s office said the ATF is also asking for photos or videos of the interior of Lincoln Hall from 2023 to 2025.
