CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A woman has pleaded guilty to setting a fatal fire in Charleston.
Patricia Kay White, 50, of Charleston, admitted to charges Monday of second-degree arson and voluntary manslaughter.
She set fire to an abandoned house on MacCorkle Avenue in Kanawha City in early February 2022.
A man was in the residence at the time; firefighters found 52-year-old Dennis Rutledge on the home’s second floor. He later died at a hospital.
White was originally charged with first-degree murder.
White is scheduled to be sentenced in Kanawha County Circuit Court on Sept. 25.
She remains in the South Central Regional Jail without bail.