- Yvette J Kimber, convicted of arson causing two deaths, seeks parole in Utah.
- Kimber, 60, cited substance abuse during her 2011 crime.
- The parole board's decision on her release is expected within 2 to 4 weeks.
SALT LAKE CITY — A woman convicted of intentionally setting a fire in her apartment because she was suicidal but instead ended up killing two neighbors and injuring a third went before the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole for the first time on Tuesday.
Yvette J Kimber, now 60, says that on March 14, 2011, she used a lighter to ignite a love seat in her apartment because her cigarette wasn't doing the job. By that point in her life, she said she was in a "downward spiral" from alcohol and drugs.
"This is it, I can't do it no more," she told herself that night. "I was very intoxicated with alcohol and medications."
Kimber called police, saying she was suicidal and going to overdose on medication, according to a police booking affidavit. One minute later, firefighters received a call reporting the fire at the Boulders Apartments, 750 S. 650 West, in Provo.
Karen Lou Murray, 67, and Catherine Crane, 63, were killed, and a third woman, Jeanette Spahr, 52, suffered permanent injuries from being burned and jumping from her second-story apartment window to save herself. She passed away a year later.
"My lifestyle was just horrible at that time, and it shouldn't have cost people their lives, that's for sure," Kimber told the Utah parole board on Tuesday. "I loved those ladies."
Kimber was charged with two counts of murder and one count of aggravated arson, all first-degree felonies. She pleaded guilty in 2013 to reduced counts including two counts of manslaughter, arson and aggravated assault. Kimber was sentenced to 1 to 15 years for each of her four charges and ordered to serve them consecutively, meaning she received a minimum sentence of 4 years and a maximum of 60 years. However, the Department of Corrections can hold Kimber for a maximum of 30 years under state statute.
On Tuesday, Kimber appeared via Zoom link from a secure facility in Arkansas for her parole hearing in Utah. When asked to tell the board what was going on in her life at the time of the crime, Kimber said she was "impulsive" and "desperate" and had by that point "burned every bridge" she had created.
Since being in prison, however, she says she has been placed on medications that have helped her, and she has learned coping skills, particularly from her substance abuse class that she recently graduated.
"I wish I could have had that class a long time ago," she said. "I've learned a lot here."
But Kimber says prison fails in comparison to the type of punishment she's given herself. She says she has to find a way to function in society when she is released while still managing the guilt she will always have. She hopes to find a faith-based support system when she gets out, as well as being sent to a halfway house at first and getting into an ongoing treatment program.
"I like the person I am when I put God first," she told the board.
The full five-member board is expected to have a decision on whether to grant parole in the next 2 to 4 weeks.
"I just want to be trusted in the community again," Kimber said. "Again, I'm so sorry."
