DETROIT (WXYZ) — A Detroit woman and her family are living in fear after someone deliberately set fire to their vehicles and home three separate times since May, with security footage confirming the arson attacks.
Watch the video report below:
Willena Payne's nightmare began in the early morning hours of May 24 when a frantic neighbor alerted her that someone had set her truck on fire.
"He was like 'hey, somebody set the truck on fire' and we looked outside and it was ablaze — it was blazing," Payne said.
Watch video of one of the arson attacks and aftermath in the video player below:
Thanks to the neighbor's quick alert, Payne was able to get her family safely out of the house. Her neighbor across the street later showed her surveillance video that confirmed someone had deliberately set the truck on fire.
But that was just the beginning of the family's ordeal.
One week later on May 30, security footage captured arsonists striking again — this time targeting her home while Payne, her children and grandchildren were all sleeping inside.
"They're trying to kill us," Payne said. "They're trying to kill us."
Despite installing additional cameras and alarms after police and arson investigators began their work, the arsonist returned a third time at 3 a.m. on July 4.
"They bust this window out then they took off running. They came back, put something in there and blazed it up," Payne said.
The second burned a vehicle still sits in Payne's driveway. The fire department says this incident is still being assessed, but the video leaves no doubt that it was arson.
"It's scary because we don't know like, we can't sleep at night, so now we're jumping up at every little thing," Payne said. "It's crazy and something needs to be done."
This is still an active investigation. Anyone with information is asked to contact Detroit fire investigators at 313-628-2900 or email arsontips@detroitmi.gov.
Willena and her family are collecting online donations to help with home repairs and vehicle replacement. You can donate HERE.
—————
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
