Sisters admit scheme to burn down house for insurance money; arsonist died after blaze

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MOBILE, Ala. — A Semmes woman pleaded guilty in Mobile last week to allegations that she hired her nephew to burn down her house for insurance money last year in an incident that badly burned the arsonist, who died the next day.

Sarah Juanita Comstock and her sister, Donna Kirkland Venerable, both pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting Michael Venerable in traveling across state lines to commit a crime of violence. Prosecutors agreed to recommend the shortest sentence called for under advisory guidelines.

For Comstock, that would be three years and 10 months, under an estimate provided by the U.S. Probation Office.

According to the women’s written plea agreements, Comstock in November called Donna Venerable, who lives in Florida, and asked her to recruit Michael Venerable to burn down the house. Comstock offered to pay Michael Venerable $5,000 once she collected the insurance payout.

Comstock then mailed her key to her sister on Nov. 15, along with a detailed letter laying out specific instructions on how to get in and out of the house without arousing suspicion. She also sent a $500 money order that her nephew could use to rent a car to drive to Alabama.

Donna Venerable called her son at about 4:30 a.m. on Nov. 25 to check on his status. He told her that he was in the process of setting the fire but had not completed the job.

A passerby found Michael Venerable dead the next morning near the side of the road near a portable toilet in Florida’s Pasco County. Though he had been badly burned, the plea agreement indicates that the death certificate points to a drug overdose as the cause of death.

The rental car was nearby and was filled with items from Comstock’s home, including a pressure cooker that had a note Comstock wrote on a notepad that had a different scriptural passage for each page.

“Donna wants my pressure cooker to can it,” she wrote. “Have to send it to her or take to her in Dec Don’t forget Don’t give away”

(For a complete roundup of news from federal court, read Monday’s Press-Register.)