Inset: Cassandra Brazeal (Grant County Sheriff’s Office). Background: The Santa Clara, N.M., area near the home where Brazeal started a fire that killed two people (Google Maps).
A New Mexico woman has been sentenced to nearly 40 years in prison for deliberately setting a house fire that claimed the lives of two women.
Cassandra Brazeal, 36, admitted guilt to two counts of second-degree murder and one count of aggravated arson in connection with the deaths of Mary Lou Maynes, 78, and Sara Louise Maes, 60.
At sentencing Thursday, Brazeal received 15 years for each murder conviction and an additional nine years for aggravated arson. Grant County District Court Judge James Foy ordered the terms to be served consecutively, bringing the total sentence to 39 years, the 6th Judicial District Attorney’s Office said in a press release. Prosecutors said she must serve at least 85% of the sentence before becoming eligible for parole.
The deadly fire happened on Nov. 28, 2023, at a residence on West Lincoln Street in Santa Clara, a small village about 9 miles east of Silver City.
Authorities said a 911 call reported the blaze, but when firefighters from Santa Clara, Hurley, Fort Bayard and Whiskey Creek reached the scene, the home was already fully engulfed, making rescue attempts difficult.
Once the flames were put out, emergency crews discovered Maynes, who used supplemental oxygen, and Maes dead inside the home, according to prosecutors.
Ultimately, prosecutors said, Brazeal’s own actions and admissions helped determine her fate.
In December 2023, Brazeal was arrested by the Grant County Sheriff’s Office and detained on an outstanding arrest warrant for harassment in another county, according to prosecutors.
That earlier case was related to threats allegedly made about burning down another woman’s house and street in Albuquerque, some 240 miles north of Santa Clara, according to the Silver City Daily Press.
“While in the Grant County Detention Center, Brazeal was speaking on the phone with an unknown caller, when she was overheard by a detention officer stating, ‘I didn’t mean to kill them’ and ‘They must have spread the fire after I lit it,'” prosecutors said.
The defendant was subsequently charged with two counts of first-degree murder and one count of aggravated arson. Under the terms of her plea deal, both homicide counts were downgraded.
In an early motion for pretrial detention, Grant County Deputy District Attorney Tomas Medina alleged Brazeal not only set fire to the victims’ residence, but also sent text messages threatening to burn down the house of her boyfriend, who is a relative of the women.
During her sentencing hearing, Judge Foy repeatedly said the crimes committed by the defendant were “heinous.”
The court granted Brazeal two years, six months, and 26 days of credit against her sentence for time served in pretrial detention.
