Mahogany Massey’s father said she stopped taking medication before prosecutors accused her of burning the apartment building where her mother lived.
DURHAM, N.C. — The father of a woman charged in a destructive Durham apartment fire says his family had tried for years to secure treatment for her serious mental illness but could not ensure that she continued taking medication after leaving care.
Daron Massey’s account emerged after authorities charged his 31-year-old daughter, Mahogany Ashley Massey, with setting fire to the University Ridge Apartments, where her mother lived. The blaze injured seven people, including family members and firefighters, and displaced 18 residents. A judge ordered Massey held without bond after prosecutors described a document they called a “people to kill list” and argued that she posed a continuing danger. Massey has not been convicted, and her father’s statements about her health have not been independently verified through medical records.
Daron Massey told ABC11 that his daughter had been diagnosed with severe mental illnesses and had stopped taking prescribed medication about two months before the fire. He said she experienced paranoia and hallucinations when unstable. He also said he had sought involuntary commitment for her in the past but felt powerless once she was released and declined medication.
His comments describe a family’s experience, not a court finding. The available reports do not identify the doctors who treated Massey, the medications she was prescribed, the dates of prior commitments or the legal basis for any discharge. Health information is generally private, and neither prosecutors nor defense counsel released clinical records during the initial hearing.
The defense nevertheless placed mental health at the center of its early request to the court. Massey’s lawyer reportedly asked the judge to consider treatment instead of jail. News accounts said Massey interrupted the proceeding several times, and the judge eventually continued without her present. It was not clear from the reports whether counsel had requested a formal competency evaluation or whether the court had scheduled one.
Competency and criminal responsibility are separate legal questions. Competency concerns a defendant’s current ability to understand proceedings and assist counsel. A claim involving a person’s mental condition at the time of an alleged offense addresses a different issue and is governed by demanding legal standards. A diagnosis alone does not answer either question, and no court ruling on those matters was identified in the public sources reviewed for this article.
The judge’s immediate decision concerned pretrial release. Prosecutors said the seriousness of the fire, the number of injuries and the alleged list of intended victims showed that Massey represented a danger. The judge agreed and ordered her held without bond at the Durham County Detention Center. Such an order does not determine guilt; it governs custody while the criminal case is pending.
The allegations arise from a fire reported at about 10:53 a.m. Sunday at the University Ridge complex on University Drive. Fire crews arrived within minutes and found heavy flames. The fire moved through the building and broke through the roof. Firefighters rescued one person through a first-floor window. Other occupants escaped on their own, including a resident who jumped from a third-story window.
Authorities reported seven injuries. Prosecutors said Massey’s mother remained hospitalized with severe smoke inhalation after the fire. Her brother was injured when he reentered the building to rescue their mother, according to the prosecution. Heat caused glass to break, and a fragment cut an artery in his arm. The prosecutor said he nearly bled to death.
Three firefighters were also named as injured parties in court documents. Massey faces three arson counts alleging serious injury to firefighters, in addition to one count of first-degree arson and three counts of assault inflicting serious bodily injury. Reports did not provide the firefighters’ names or detailed medical conditions, and early news accounts differed slightly in their descriptions of the overall injury count.
Daron Massey said his daughter remained at the complex while emergency crews treated her mother. He described seeing her sit on a wall, smoke a cigarette and drink a beer as her mother was moved toward an ambulance. He said she did not approach or react as he would have expected. That account has become one of the most widely repeated details in coverage of the case.
Behavior at an emergency scene can be relevant to investigators, but it does not establish guilt by itself. People may react to traumatic events in different ways, and a family member’s interpretation is not the same as forensic evidence. Prosecutors have not publicly said whether they plan to use Massey’s conduct at the scene as evidence of consciousness of guilt, impaired judgment or another issue.
More consequential to the prosecution’s theory may be the document investigators allegedly found among Massey’s belongings. During the hearing, prosecutors called it a “people to kill list.” They did not release a copy, identify the names on it or explain when it was written. They also did not publicly state whether Massey’s mother, brother or other University Ridge residents appeared on the document. The wording has led to reports that the fire was part of a plan to harm relatives, but significant facts remain unknown. The public record does not show whether the list contained threats, notes, crossed-out names or other context. It is unclear whether investigators found it before or after questioning Massey, whether handwriting analysis was conducted or whether the defense disputes that it belonged to her.
Prosecutors also said Massey had tried to start another fire at the complex about a week earlier. The Fire Department had not confirmed that claim when WRAL sought additional information. No separate incident report, witness statement or damage estimate was described in the reporting. Authorities did not say whether a charge had been filed for the alleged earlier act.
The cause-and-origin evidence supporting the main arson charge has also not been publicly detailed. Investigators classified the blaze as arson and arrested Massey, but reports do not identify an accelerant, ignition source, video recording or eyewitness who saw the fire begin. The charging documents allege malicious burning, while the evidence behind that accusation remains subject to disclosure and challenge in court.
The fire’s consequences extended well beyond Massey’s family. The building contained 18 apartments, nine of them occupied. Fire officials declared every unit uninhabitable and said 18 people were displaced. Residents lost access to their homes and belongings even if their individual units were not consumed by flames. No public timeline for repair or reconstruction was given.
One displaced resident, Justice Houllier, said alarms sounded as the fire spread upward. Unable to leave by a normal route, he jumped from his third-story living-room window. The 28-year-old suffered a fractured spine and a serious foot injury. He later told WRAL that he had focused on survival and accepted that possessions were replaceable.
The building, constructed in the 1980s, did not have an automatic sprinkler system, according to the Fire Department. North Carolina’s later sprinkler requirements did not automatically apply to every older apartment building. Officials did not allege a code violation or conclude that the lack of sprinklers caused the injuries. A formal fire analysis addressing the building’s systems had not been released.
The family’s public discussion of mental illness adds a difficult layer to a case already involving allegations of violence. It may shape defense motions, requests for evaluation and decisions about how Massey participates in future proceedings. It does not erase the injuries suffered by residents and firefighters, nor does it establish that Massey committed the offenses charged.
Similarly, the father’s account of failed treatment efforts raises broader questions but does not supply enough verified information to judge the decisions of medical providers or courts involved in any previous commitment. The circumstances of those encounters are unknown. No agency identified in the reporting had responded publicly to his criticism.
Future proceedings may clarify whether Massey is competent, whether experts will evaluate her condition and whether the prosecution’s evidence supports the alleged connection among the fire, the supposed earlier attempt and the list. Until then, the public account remains based largely on charging documents, statements from an initial hearing and interviews conducted shortly after the blaze.
Massey remained jailed without bond at the latest stage that could be confirmed from the reviewed reporting. The sources did not establish the outcome of any later court appearance. Her lawyer will have an opportunity to challenge the allegations, and prosecutors must prove every charge beyond a reasonable doubt before a conviction may be entered.
Author note: Last updated July 15, 2026.