Murder of Darcy Veeder by Shelly Arndt investigated on Snapped

Oxygen is re-airing the Snapped investigation into the murder of Darcy Veeder by his girlfriend, Shelly Arndt, who set a fire that killed her long-time boyfriend and threatened the lives of six other people.

On February 23, 2014, Veeder and Arndt were sleeping at Arndt’s twin sister Kelly O’Neil’s house in East Bremerton. There were a total of eight people sleeping in the house that night, including three children.

Arndt would later testify that she woke up to the smell of smoke and then woke up the other occupants of the house; oddly, she didn’t mention awakening her boyfriend.

At one point, O’Neil and Arndt ran back into the house to rescue O’Neil’s adult daughter, Autumn Kriefels. The three made it to the driveway as the house was completely engulfed in flames 30 to 45 seconds later.

The fire department eventually put out the flames and recovered Veeder’s remains from a couch in an upstairs living room.

Everyone got out of the house and was uninjured except for 37-year-old Veeder. An autopsy found that he had died from smoke inhalation. He also had a high level of alcohol in his bloodstream.

Detectives concluded Shelly Arndt started the fire that killed Darcy Veeder

The fire department concluded that the blaze had been started deliberately by someone putting a cigarette lighter to a beanbag.

The cops were first drawn to Arndt because she had a history of arson and domestic violence. She also incriminated herself when she told detectives that it was possible she set the blaze, but she couldn’t remember.

In an interview with a local outlet, Arndt admitted that her record made her a suspect, telling a reporter, “My family said that people would bring that up.”

Shelly Arndt given life sentence for murder and arson

Following a trial, Arndt was convicted of aggravated first-degree murder and first-degree arson. She was also found guilty of six counts of second-degree assault, one for each person who escaped the fire.

Arndt was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The killer later appealed to the Washington Supreme Court, claiming her rights under the Sixth Amendment had been breached. Arndt argued that her defense team had wrongly been forbidden from introducing testimony from a fire expert. However, the court upheld her conviction.

Following the failed appeal, Veeder’s sister, Monica Richardson, said, “You are never really quite sure if she is going to get out, if there will be another trial, if she will get a lesser sentence. Are we going to have to relive this all over again?”

This episode of Snapped re-airs Tuesday at 8/7c on Oxygen.