A judge set bail at $500,000 for the man accused of trying to burn down his ex-lover's home.
Terrence Peters, 55, is facing first-degree arson charges after authorities say he intentionally set fire to a North Everett apartment Tuesday morning. Police say Peters lit the fire, then waited outside the woman's porch "to kill her," but then fled to avoid being captured.
"We knew. We knew something was going to happen -- we just didn't know what," said Tammy Williamson, a neighbor and friend of the victim's. "He had threatened her life. Very vocally. 'I'm going to kill you,'" she recalled.
Police wrote in court papers that Peters had made previous threats against the victim. She was in the process of obtaining a protection order, wrote Everett Police Officer Stephan Spaeth.
Peters appeared in court Wednesday afternoon. Prosecutors cited three felony convictions in Louisiana in arguing that Peters is a potential danger to the community.
"He had thought this through well in advance. He had made comments to the alleged victim in this case indicating that he was going to act on this," a prosecutor argued in court. "That caused her to attempt to change the locks in the days proceeding this."