Woman agrees to plead guilty to burning father

A Centerville woman has agreed to plead guilty but mentally ill to burning her father to death nearly four years ago.

Nina M. Holbrook and the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office filed a plea agreement in the case Friday in Wayne County Superior Court I.

In the agreement, Holbrook agrees to plead guilty to felony murder and arson resulting in bodily injury (a Class A felony). If the plea deal is accepted by Judge Charles K. Todd Jr., he will sentence Holbrook to 55 years in prison for murder and to 50 years for arson. The sentences would be served concurrently.

No date has been set for the change of plea and sentencing hearing.

According to an affidavit of probable cause in the case, Holbook told authorities she poured “camper fuel” on Carl D. Holbrook, 50, of 10037 Chapel Road and set him on fire with a candle on July 8, 2011. She also told investigators she intended to kill him.

A man who was supposed to meet Carl Holbrook at the house found him on the porch badly burned. According to the affidavit, Carl Holbrook told the man Nina Holbrook set him on fire. Carl Holbrook was airlifted by helicopter to Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton, Ohio, where he died.

Nina Holbrook told investigators she put fuel into a cup and took it to her bedroom with a candle and lighter, according to the affidavit. She lit the candle, called her father to her room, threw the fuel on him and set him on fire with the candle.

She then climbed out her bedroom window and walked through a field and down the road, where she was spotted by her uncle, Harvey Holbrook, the affidavit says she told investigators. Harvey Holbrook told authorities that when he asked Nina what happened, she told him, “I torched him” and “I set him on fire,” the affidavit said.

Since her arrest, Nina Holbrook has spent most of her time at the Logansport State Hospital, receiving mental health treatment. She was returned to the Wayne County Jail on Nov. 3, 2014.

Her attorney, Stephen Rabe, twice filed notice of intent to use mental disease or defect as a defense, and each time Holbrook has been examined to determine her competency to stand trial.

Staff writer Mike Emery: (765) 973-4466 or mwemery@pal-item.com. Follow him on Twitter at @PI_Emery.