Suspected Tacoma serial arsonist’s past includes criminal conviction, custody issues
A suspected serial arsonist accused of starting 18 fires at mostly occupied homes in Tacoma and Ruston last week has a turbulent past.
Sarah Jane Ramey, 42, is being held on $3 million bail after her arrest Friday. Pierce County prosecutors, who argued for high bond because they consider Ramey an extreme safety risk to the community, are expected to file criminal charges Wednesday.
During a hearing Monday, Pierce County Superior Court Commissioner Craig Adams found there was probable cause to hold Ramey on suspicion of eight arson fires, residential burglary, possession of stolen property and identity theft.
Tacoma police have not said what led them to Ramey, but a department spokeswoman said several divisions were focused on the fires to find the suspect before somebody was injured.
Ramey is suspected of deliberately starting a dozen fires late Jan. 25 and early Jan. 26, mostly in Central Tacoma and northern areas of the city. One was in Ruston.
Other fires at homes, detached garages and vehicles were being investigated. Police have not released a list of all the fires Ramey is allegedly responsible for.
The blazes set the city on edge, with many residents worrying about when and where the next fire would be.
Ramey has been in trouble with the law before but does not appear to have been caught illegally setting fires. Her crimes centered more on residential burglaries.
In 2012, she pleaded guilty to second-degree burglary, and prosecutors dismissed other charges of third-degree possession of stolen property and unlawful use of drug paraphernalia. In her guilty plea, Ramey wrote, “I maintain my innocence of this offense” but acknowledged that a jury would likely convict her.
Ramey broke into a Bonney Lake garage and stole keys, returning later to the same scene. The homeowner spotted her and chased her from the property. A K-9 track led sheriff’s deputies to where Ramey was hiding, and she was taken into custody.
Three stolen rings and a drug pipe were found on her at the time of her arrest.
Members of the Bonney Lake family who were the victims of the burglary said the incident made them feel unsafe in their home.
The father said he was sure Ramey would have attacked him with one of the many weapons in the garage if he had gone into the room where she was hiding. A 7-year-old girl wrote deputies a thank-you card expressing gratitude for “helping me not have nightmares at night anymore.” The mother said they were worried about what would happen when Ramey was released from jail.
“When I mow the lawn now I am always watchin, if she could break into our garage in daylight with people working 100 feet away ... what is she capable of doing?” the mother wrote in a victim impact statement.
Ramey was sentenced to three months in jail for the burglary. Prosecutors sent her case to a debt collector after she failed to pay any of her $1,400 financial legal obligations.
Ramey also had problems in family court.
Her mother filed for custody of Ramey’s three children in 2011, saying in her petition that Ramey “has mental issues that prevent her from caring for the children.”
The two girls and one boy had not been living with either parent for months because the father was in jail, and Ramey had just been released from jail after her mother posted bail, court records say. At the time, Ramey was living in her vehicle and couch surfing.
Both Ramey and the children’s father abandoned them and have a history of domestic violence, records say.
In October 2011, Ramey wrote the court a letter saying she wanted temporary custody to be granted to her mother because she feared them ending up with her ex. Ramey claimed her ex physically and emotionally abused her and that he occasionally hit their children.
It appears she soon entered into another abusive relationship because in August 2013 she filed for a protection order against a boyfriend whom she said hit her head into a wall and concussed her.
The protection order was dismissed the following month when neither Ramey nor her boyfriend appeared for the hearing.
This story was originally published February 1, 2022 at 1:03 PM.
