AURORA | Aurora Fire officials have arrested a woman suspected of repeatedly torching a roadside memorial located beside the Nine Mile light rail station in Aurora in recent months.
Aurora Fire Rescue issued a news release Tuesday announcing the arrest of Rochelle Charest on March 20. Officials have recommended charging Charest with reckless kindling and injury to property for her alleged actions at the roadside shrine on multiple days in early February.
Officials did not provide details on the circumstances surrounding Charest’s arrest.
Investigators also did not provide her age.
Officials had been looking for a suspect tied to the recent burnings for months. The memorial was the site of additional fires last fall.
Authorities originally believed multiple women were tied to the incendiary incidents, though the news release issued Tuesday identified Charest as “the sole suspect responsible.”
The memorial that was repeatedly set alight commemorates Dontae Chambers, a 34-year-old Lakewood man who died after multiple drivers struck him while he was crossing an Interstate 225 off-ramp on May 25, 2020. Officials never filed charges related to the incident after determining Chambers “suffered some type of medical episode” and collapsed on the roadway moments before he was struck, according to Lt. Chris Amsler, a spokesperson for the Aurora Police Department.
It’s unclear why Charest set fires at Chamber’s memorial, which has been adorned with various holiday paraphernalia in recent months.
Arapahoe County court records indicate Charest has yet to be assigned a case in the jurisdiction.