ESSEX, Md. — Police in Baltimore County are still piecing together a deadly arson case which claimed the lives of a mother and her young daughter more than three decades ago.
In May 1992, a fire tore through an apartment building on Hadwick Drive in Essex. 8-year-old Victoria Gericke and her 30-year-old mother, Mary Lee Gericke, died of smoke inhalation, according to Baltimore County Police.
Investigators determined the fire was intentionally set in the basement stairwell with a flammable fluid. The arson caused over $500,000 in damage.
“Several people tried to go to their doors, and tried to go outside feeling the heat. Many people jumped from the building, and several people passing by actually tried to help people get out of that building,” said Cpl. Dona Carter of the Baltimore County Police…