Dawn McDonald

SEBRING — Within just a few days, a village woman found herself a widow as well as a defendant in response to a felony incident at her Oregon Avenue home.

Dawn McDonald currently is in Mahoning County Jail, awaiting her preliminary hearing at 10 a.m. Feb. 28 in Mahoning County Court #3 in Sebring before Judge Joe Schiavoni.

She was arraigned on Feb. 12, 10 days after the criminal incident on charges of aggravated arson, a first-degree felony; having weapons under disability, a third-degree felony; two counts of assault on emergency personnel (one police and one EMS), both fourth-degree felonies; aggravated menacing, a fifth-degree felony; and disorderly conduct with persistence, fourth-degree misdemeanor.

Sebring dispatch received a call from McDonald’s husband shortly before 10:50 p.m. Feb. 2 from the couple’s home in the 300 block of East Oregon Avenue, where he requested a welfare check. He relayed that his wife was threatening to walk in front of a train.

Upon arrival, the responding officer contacted Sebring Fire for assistance.

McDonald could be heard screaming, wanting everyone to leave and threatening to coax her two dogs to attack first responders.

The husband’s attempts to calm her down failed, as she continued to scream threats before fighting with officers and EMS.

Officer Rachael Strata and Sgt. Aaron Peterman attempted to get her away from a nearby oxygen tank, which she was threatening to ignite with a lighter to cause an explosion, killing everyone in the house.

McDonald then lit the lighter on the left side of Strata’s head, causing her hair to ignite and burn.

The fire was quickly extinguished, causing no injuries, and McDonald was quickly detained, according to Russell’s report narrative.

Distracted by Dawn McDonald’s behavior, officers hadn’t noticed her distraught husband had left the room.

The officers then heard a noise from inside the residence. When they went to investigate with weapons drawn, they discovered he had caused injury to himself. He was transported by EMS to the Alliance hospital where he later died.

If convicted of all charges, the maximum penalty for Dawn McDonald is 16 and a half years in prison and $37,500 in fines.