MENDOCINO COUNTY, Calif. – Mendocino County's district attorney has filed attempted murder and arson charges against a former Willits woman who is alleged to have set fire to the home she shared with her disabled son.

Nancy Jo McGinty, 51, was arrested on Wednesday by Alameda Police office and was being held on $250,000 bail in the jail in Alameda County, where she recently had moved, according to a report from Capt. Kurt Smallcomb of the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office.

The alleged victim in the case is McGinty's 31-year-old son, Michael Joseph Faustina, Smallcomb said.

Based on a sheriff's office investigation submitted to his office, District Attorney C. David Eyster decided to press charges against McGinty, resulting in the issuance of an arrest warrant for her on charges of attempted murder and arson, Smallcomb reported.

Deputies had been dispatched to McGinty's home in the 24000 block of Lilac Drive in Willits on the night of Dec. 14, 2010, on the report of a suspicious house fire that the Brooktrails Fire Department had been dispatched to earlier in the evening, according to Smallcomb.

Upon arriving, firefighters learned that a neighbor – who knew that Faustina was in the home and couldn't get out because he is bedridden – had entered the home prior to their arrival, while the home was on fire. The neighbor rescued Faustina from what Smallcomb said was certain death because of the fire's severity.

Smallcomb said Faustina was transported to Howard Memorial Hospital for treatment of fire-related injuries while firefighters put out the blaze.

Once the fire was extinguished firefighters learned McGinty was probably inside the home during the fire. However, Smallcomb said a preliminary search of the inside of the home resulted in McGinty not being located.

On the morning of Dec. 15, 2010, an arson investigator arrived at the residence with sheriff's Det. Clint Byrnes. Smallcomb said that during an investigative search of the home McGinty was found asleep in a master bedroom bathtub.

It appeared to investigators that McGinty was not inside the home during the entirety of the fire, Smallcomb said. A preliminary statement was obtained from McGinty and she was transported to a local hospital for medical evaluation.

In the following months, Det. Byrnes worked closely with arson investigators from the Brooktrails Fire Department and Cal Fire. Smallcomb said at the conclusion of the fire investigation, it was determined the cause of the home fire was arson.

Det. Byrnes was able to collect additional evidence that is alleged to show that McGinty intentionally started the home fire with the goal of killing herself and Faustina, Smallcomb said.

That information was subsequently submitted to Eyster's office for review, resulting in the issuance of the arrest warrant for McGinty, Smallcomb said.

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