Charging documents say the woman had limited mobility and was still inside with pets when a July 21 fire began.
GLEN BURNIE, Md. — A woman with limited mobility escaped a burning Glen Burnie home and called 911 after investigators say her boyfriend threatened her during an argument and intentionally started a fire in the kitchen before leaving, according to charging documents and county fire officials.
The woman’s escape is one of the clearest points in a case that now includes attempted-murder and arson charges against Carmelo Latorre, 64. Anne Arundel County firefighters reached the 1200 block of Aster Drive at about 10:29 p.m. July 21 and quickly put out the fire, the county Fire Department said. Four days later, investigators from the department’s Fire/Arson & Explosives Investigative Bureau arrested Latorre after determining the blaze had been intentionally set. The agency announced attempted first- and second-degree murder and first- and second-degree arson charges and said the investigation remained active.
Local reports based on charging documents describe the emergency from the woman’s perspective. She told investigators that Latorre came home intoxicated and became threatening while damaging items in the house. She alleged that he threw dog feces at her and threatened to force her to eat her deceased son’s ashes. The same account says she used her cellphone to record part of the confrontation. Her name was redacted from the court documents cited by WMAR, and officials have not publicly identified her in the sources reviewed for this report.
The recording allegedly captured threats that became especially important once the fire started. CBS Baltimore reported that investigators heard Latorre say he was going to burn the house and tell the woman, “You’re going to die in this house.” WMAR reported a similar threat to burn the house to the ground. The public reports do not include the full recording, so its complete context is not available. What is reported is that the video was turned over to investigators after the fire and became part of the charging-document narrative used to describe events inside the home before emergency crews arrived.
Investigators allege that Latorre then put combustible material on or near a kitchen stove and used the stove to ignite a fire. He is accused of leaving while the woman and pets remained inside. WMAR reported that the woman has limited mobility, but the available accounts do not explain the nature of that limitation or whether she needed assistance to leave. CBS reported that she called 911 and escaped. No death was reported, and the county’s release did not announce any injuries. The public statement also did not say whether the animals were harmed or provide a detailed damage estimate for the home. Because the county did not publish a fuller account of the escape, it is also unclear how much time passed between ignition, the 911 call and the woman reaching safety. The available reports support only that she got out and that firefighters then brought the blaze under control.
That sequence turned what initially presented as a residential fire into a criminal investigation. Anne Arundel County said its fire investigators examined the scene and concluded that the blaze was intentionally set. The department’s Fire/Arson & Explosives investigators are sworn law-enforcement officers trained in determining the origin and cause of fires, according to the county. Their work led to Latorre’s arrest on July 25. The agency’s release is brief and does not spell out the evidence supporting each criminal count, but it confirms the intentional-fire determination and the four principal attempted-murder and arson charges. It does not say whether investigators relied on burn patterns, material recovered from the kitchen, witness statements, the cellphone recording or some combination of those sources when reaching the origin-and-cause conclusion.
Charging papers described by local media add several allegations beyond those listed in the county announcement. WMAR reported charges that included malicious burning, a threat of arson, assault and reckless endangerment in addition to attempted murder and arson. CBS also reported assault and reckless endangerment counts. Those charges reflect accusations, not findings of guilt. The sources reviewed for this report do not include a plea from Latorre, a defense response to the allegations or a judicial ruling on the reported cellphone evidence. They also do not say whether prosecutors later amended or consolidated any of the counts.
Outside the home, the fire was visible enough to alarm a neighbor. A man identified by CBS Baltimore as Bienvenue said he saw flames coming from the roof as fire crews responded. He told the station that he was shocked when he later learned about the arrest and was relieved the woman had escaped. He also voiced concern that the blaze could have spread to surrounding houses. The county Fire Department said crews extinguished the fire quickly, and no neighboring home was reported burned in the sources reviewed here. Officials did not release a public estimate of the potential spread area.
The timing of the response is clearer in the county’s record than in some secondary accounts. The official release says the fire happened July 21 and firefighters arrived at approximately 10:29 p.m. That matches local television coverage describing a Tuesday-night blaze. Law&Crime, the report that drew wider attention to the case, included a different time in one passage, but the primary county statement provides the 10:29 p.m. figure. The arrest followed on July 25. Keeping those dates separate matters because the fire, the investigation and the arrest occurred over several days rather than in a single police response.
Several details remain outside the public record available through the sources reviewed for this story. Officials have not publicly described the total fire damage, released the full video, identified the woman, said whether there were other occupants, or explained whether additional physical evidence was recovered from the kitchen. The reports also do not establish whether alcohol use alleged by the woman was independently tested or confirmed. Those gaps do not erase the charges, but they mark the difference between what investigators allege in court documents and what the county has independently stated in its public announcement. That distinction is especially important in an early-stage criminal case, where an arrest affidavit presents the basis for charges rather than a final accounting tested through trial testimony, cross-examination and a verdict.
Late-July reports said Latorre was being held without bond. Law&Crime also reported that a court appearance was scheduled for Aug. 18, but the sources available for this report do not confirm the outcome of that date or a later change in custody status. No conviction or final disposition has been reported in the material reviewed. The most recent official statement available from the Anne Arundel County Fire Department continues to describe the investigation as active and asks anyone with information about the fire to contact investigators.
The woman’s safe escape prevented the incident from becoming a fatal fire, but the criminal case remains unresolved. Prosecutors would still have to prove the allegations in court, including the attempted-murder counts and the claim that Latorre intentionally set the blaze. For now, the public record consists of the county’s intentional-fire finding, the charges announced after the July 25 arrest and the more detailed accusations contained in charging documents described by local news organizations.
Author note: Last updated August 29, 2026.