Trial date set for 1 woman accused in fire that killed 4

ALEXANDRIA, La. (AP) — One of the women accused of setting a fire that killed a Louisiana woman and her three granddaughters now has a trial date.

Tamielya Alis Brevelle, 31, will face trial on a first-degree murder charge on Nov. 29. The Town Talk reported.

Brevelle was arrested after a Feb. 29, 2020, fire destroyed a home and killed the four people inside — 48-year-old Verlana Inell Cooper, 7-year-old Jayda Kelis Cooper, 4-year-old Brooklyn Elise Cooper and 4-month-old Dreya Reign Russaw. Authorities have said the fire was intentionally set.

Authorities have not released a motive in the case.

Brevelle’s niece, Dorothy Denee Bosby, 28, later was arrested, too. Both women were initially arrested on four counts of second-degree murder and one count of manufacturing or possessing an incendiary device. But a Rapides Parish grand jury indicted them each on one count of first-degree murder in Verlana Cooper’s death.

The cases involving the children still could go before a grand jury, prosecutor Hugo Holland has said.

Bosby has a pretrial hearing set for Thursday.