Authorities say a 2016 fire at a Bagley Downs apartment building that displaced 16 people started after a disgruntled ex-girlfriend set fire to some personal items, apparently belonging to another woman, on her ex-boyfriend’s doorstep.
Mariya N. Melnik, 30, appeared Tuesday in Clark County Superior Court on a warrant for first-degree domestic violence arson, stemming from the Dec. 10, 2016, fire at Fort Vancouver Terrace Apartments, 4710 Plomondon St.
The blaze, reported shortly before 7 p.m., prompted two people to leap for safety from the second story as Samaritans and Vancouver police officers rescued others from ground-floor units, according to Columbian archives. No one was seriously injured. All of the units in the 12-unit building were damaged.
Investigators with the Vancouver Fire Marshal’s Office found an unknown accelerant at the origin of the fire, among other evidence, that led them to believe it was intentionally set, according to an affidavit of probable cause.
A woman, later identified as Melnik, is seen on video surveillance minutes before the fire leaving two bags at the apartment building and running to her vehicle. No one else is seen in the area before the fire starts, the affidavit says. A witness, David Gilmore, also reported seeing the suspect and her vehicle, a silver or gray BMW X5 SUV.
One of the building’s occupants told investigators that his ex-girlfriend, Melnik, set the fire. He said he had left two bags full of “female personal items” on Melnik’s doorstep earlier that evening. The items in the bags matched fire debris found in front of his unit, court records say.
Melnik reportedly called a friend of her ex-boyfriend’s an hour after the fire and said, “One of us is going to jail.” And an employee at the complex said Melnik returned to the scene two days later to ask if anyone in her ex-boyfriend’s unit was injured in the fire, according to court documents.
Investigators contacted Melnik on Oct. 26, 2017, at her home in Portland. She reportedly admitted to setting the fire. She said her ex-boyfriend had dropped off a bag full of “female items” on her doorstep. However, the items belonged to another woman, she said, which upset her. She said she took the items back to his apartment and set them on fire using a lighter, the affidavit states.
An arrest warrant was issued for Melnik on Oct. 31, 2017, court records show, but it wasn’t executed until Monday by Washington State Patrol.
According to a probable cause affidavit filed in Clark County District Court, a sergeant stopped Melnik shortly before midnight Sunday on southbound Interstate 205 at state Highway 14. She was traveling 78 mph in a 60 mph zone, and the sergeant saw a beer can in the center console.
Melnik admitted to consuming alcohol and agreed to a voluntary field sobriety test. A preliminary breath test found she had a blood-alcohol level of 0.170, the affidavit states. In Washington, a blood-alcohol level of 0.08 is considered evidence of drunken driving.
On Tuesday, Judge Jennifer Snider set Melnik’s bail in the arson case at $2,500. She will be arraigned Nov. 26, court records show.
