A Texas woman was arrested for breaking into a yoga studio and setting it on fire. And, no, not with her kapalabhati breath. This is not the kind of hot yoga we’d recommend.
Nancy Duarte, 41, was arrested by Dallas Police over the weekend and charged with second-degree arson and resisting arrest after admitting to starting a fire at American Power Yoga (also called Sunstone Yoga) on Saturday night using flammable liquid and matches.
According to a witness via the Dallas Morning News, the woman was acting erratically and “insane,” but didn’t seem to want to burn the place down, just make a really, fiery, smoky point.
A witness, Phineas Bennett-Lovari, said the woman was lighting matches and pieces of paper and throwing them into the air, yelling, “I’m going to burn this [expletive] down. I don’t care if I go to jail.”
“It seemed like she wasn’t really trying to burn it down, she was just trying to make a huge scene,” he said.
Duarte is also being investigated in connection with an earlier incident that occurred in February where a woman with a gun fired three shots into the same yoga studio. Police have not caught the perp for that one yet. Thankfully, no one was hurt in either incident.
But there are so many questions. What would cause a woman to break into a yoga studio and set it on fire? Was she a disgruntled student? An angry neighbor? A disenchanted, unemployed yoga teacher in need of work? We know it’s tough out there, but…And why this particular studio? Clearly she wasn’t intending to truly hurt anyone since she opted for after hours.
According to Stephanie Denton Quigley, the target studio’s director, she did not know Duarte and didn’t know why she would try to light the place on fire. We have a feeling there might be some underlying samskaras there not yet brought to light, or the courtroom.
“I couldn’t believe that this stuff actually happens, especially at a yoga studio, where it’s all about peace and zen,” the witness Bennett-Lovari said. Oh, honey.
Duarte is being held at Dallas County Jail with bond set at $16,000.
——
Earlier…
