Daughter Set Fire to Flossmoor Home with Elderly Mom Inside: Police

Photo: Denise Tropp

A Flossmoor woman who allegedly set her house ablaze with her 90-year-old mother inside faces charges of attempted first degree murder and aggravated arson.

Denise M. Tropp, 64, of the 2000 block of Hagen Lane reportedly told police her mother had taken away her cigarettes and cell phone, and admitted that she had started the fire.

The flames set off an explosion, likely an oxygen tank inside the home. Tropp’s 90-year-old mother was pulled from the fire and taken to Franciscan St. James Hospital in Olympia Fields.

First responders found Tropp outside the home, chatting with a neighbor as flames burst through the living room window. She initially told police that her elderly mother was not home—but later said she was still inside, Homewood-Flossmoor Chronicle reports. Tropp was handcuffed and taken to the Flossmoor Police Department.

She was taken to the Cook County jail on Monday and a hearing was scheduled for later in the day.

The woman’s second daughter was not home at the time of the fire.