PARKERSBURG, W.Va. — A Wood County teenager was found guilty Thursday for setting a fire in 2019 that killed her adoptive parents.
A 12-member Wood County jury deliberated for about five hours before convicting Madison Wine, 19, on all seven criminal counts she faced including first degree murder and first degree arson.
Wine used gasoline to torch her family’s Davisville home in September 2019. The blaze claimed the lives of Robert Taylor, 58, and his wife, Charolette, 52. Charolette Taylor was Wine’s biological grandmother. The Taylors were in bed when the fire began.
Wine’s attorneys claimed Wine, 16, at the time of the fire, snapped under a difficult upbringing that included drug abuse by her biological parents, separation from those parents and the eventual overdose death of her father.
Charolette Taylor’s sister Robin Bain Marple, of Bunker Hill, told MetroNews affiliate WEPM Radio, that the Taylors loved Madison and wanted to give her a better life.
“They were excited to have her and they had them involved in sports and ROTC and Charolette would brag about how intelligent Madison was. She adored her. The picture she sent me when they adopted her she said it was the happiest day of her life,” Marple said.
The day she heard of the fire was the worst day of her life, Marple said.
“Someone texted me and told me about the fire—I was in a fetal position for over two hours–I couldn’t believe it. I was devastated, still am, I don’t understand why. None of us in the family understand why that this had to happen,” Marple said.
Wine confessed to the fire when she spoke with investigators with the state Fire Marshal’s Office not long after setting the blaze.
Wood County Circuit Judge J.D. Beane has set sentencing for June 27 at 11 a.m. Marple said Wine should get as much time behind bars as possible.
“I want her to have to pay for the crimes that she has committed,” Marple said.
Wine was also convicted of attempted murder, a six-year-old boy who lived in the home was injured in the blaze. The jury also returned a guilty verdict on an animal cruelty charge.
Roane County Prosecutor Josh Downey was the special prosecutor in the case.