Homeowner Speaks Out After Meth Lab Fire in Basement

Linda Beard tells Patch she has lived in her home at 1105 Holgate Drive in Manchester for 26 years before police, fire and hazmat crews responded to meth lab fire there on March 22. 

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Prosecutors are now reviewing that case to determine if warrants will be issued on the three people Manchester police said are charged in connection to the fire sparked by a "shake and bake" meth lab in the basement.

Police said David Uland McClain, 32, of Hillsboro, Bruce Michael Sexton Jr., 35, of Fenton and Ann Renee Magee, 46, of Cedar Hill are all three charged with one felony count of intent to distribute/manufacture, one misdemeanor count of simple assault and one count of negligent burning or exploding. 

Beard is not charged in connection with the alleged crimes, nor is her adult son Craig, who lives in the home with her, but was not there the night of the fire.

Beard tells Town and Country-Manchester Patch she wants people to know she had nothing to do with the lab and insists she did not know what was allegedly taking place in her basement. 

"Absolutely did not, had no clue," Beard tells Patch. She said she has very bad arthritis and never goes into the basement. "I don't go downstairs at all. If they were downstairs, I'd be none the wiser as long as they were being quite." 

She said she was on her computer the night of the fire and it was noise that alerted her something was wrong. 

"I heard them going in and out, in and out and that's when I got up wondering 'What the hell is going on?" which is when I smelled the smoke," Beard explained. "I went downstairs to see what was smoking and as soon as I saw the fire was already out of control, I went back upstairs. It had already engulfed the whole side of the wall." 

Beard said she is the one who called 911 that night. She said she learned that investigators determined it was a meth lab from the media at the scene. 

"I freaked and my friends freaked, mostly because my friends know I would never allow that kind of activity in my home," Beard tells Patch. 

She said she has worked hard to make a good life for her children and grandchildren. She said she's often worked 40 plus hours a week to maintain her home that is now condemned. 

"If the police call it a meth lab, it makes me so sad that I trusted the wrong people, "friends" of my son's," Beard stated in an email to Patch. "I have been an advocate for drug awareness for many years. In the past I even gave drug awareness classes for parents at some of the local schools. How ironic that this happened to me. However the reason it happened in not because I am stupid, but because I am compassionate, caring, and naive." 

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Beard said she does not know all three of the people charged in connection to the fire, but she does know Sexton. She said Sexton was a friend of her son Craig from back when they were in school. 

"He brought Bruce (Sexton) in for a night or two because he was having marital problems and just needed a place to say," Beard explained. "I'm compassionate enough not to let anyone stay out in a car, but naive enough to let them stay in my house." 

She assumes Sexton brought in McClain and Magee the night of the fire, but admits she wasn't watching closely. She said after raising three sons, she's used to people coming in and out and doesn't always take a "head count." 

Beard's son Craig was not home when the fire broke out and he has not been charged in connection to the alleged crimes. 

"He and I have had some serious discussions," Beard tells Patch. She said she does not believe her son was involved in the meth making and if anything, her son is just too trusting like herself. "He was totally devastated. He just kept crying and saying, 'I'm sorry, I'm so sorry.'" 

Beard also said she was not burned the night of the fire and she did not try and put the fire out. She did however go to the hospital the next morning to be checked for smoke inhalation because she suffers from asthma. 

Police previously told Patch that Beard is in danger of not having her home damage covered buy her insurance company due to the criminal investigation. 

"We haven't gotten the fire investigator's report back yet," Beard explained.

She is currently staying with family as the investigation continues and while she waits to hear the fate of her home. She said she does want to move back into her Manchester home.

Manchester Police Captain Charles Hunn tells Patch he is not sure when prosecutors will make a decision in this case. Hunn said prosecutors must review the case handed over to them, then make a determination whether they'll issue (warrants), refuse warrants or take it under advisement, which usually means there is more investigation to be done.  

None of the three charged in connection to the meth lab fire are from Manchester. 

According to investigators and Casenet, Sexton already has a suspended prison sentence for drug charges in 1999.

Check back to Town and Country - Manchester Patch for updates as more details are released on this investigation.

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