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House where three died in arson is torn down
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
As crews worked Monday to demolish the home where 10-year-old Corinne Gump and her grandparents William and Judith Schmidt died in a March 30 arson, they suddenly stopped just before the last portion of the home was to be taken down.
Several people who were gathered across the street watching and snapping pictures with their phones walked over to the backyard.
One of the workers got inside the rubble of the home on Powers Way and retrieved a set of china and other charred valuables and brought them out in a box to family members gathered in the backyard of the home next door, then work continued.
Minutes later, the remaining front portion of the house was knocked down.
Becky Bretz of Triple Diamond Trucking and Excavating in Hubbard, who demolished the home for family members free of charge, said the family wanted the china but could not get to that part of the house since the fire. The company received a permit for the demolition Friday after Judge Maureen Sweeney of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court ruled that the house could be torn down if the family wished.
Christine Seman, Corinne’s aunt, said she was torn herself to see the house demolished, but she said the home was a daily reminder of the death of Corinne and her grandparents, and said perhaps the demolition could be a step forward in the healing process.
“We all have mixed feelings, that’s for sure,” she said. Robert Seman, 46, of West Calla Road, faces charges of aggravated burglary, aggravated arson and 10 counts of aggravated murder after being accused of setting the fire that killed the three, just hours before he was to go on trial on charges that he had raped Corinne – charges that carried a potential life sentence if he were convicted.
Seman is the Mahoning County jail awaiting a trial in the case next year. If convicted, he could face the death penalty.
At least 15 people were lined up in a neighbor’s yard across the street, watching, taking pictures and hugging one another, and several more watched in cars that were parked on the side of the street. Several others were in the yard of the home next door watching crews tear the house down.
Bretz said a couple of her workers know Corinne’s father, Ethan Gump, and asked if they could take the house down for the family – and Bretz agreed. She said the job was expected to be completed by the end of the day Monday.
Christine Seman, who was once married to Robert Seman, said her family still is trying to come to terms with the loss of Corinne and her grandparents.
“Thank God we have each other,” Christine Seman said. “One day at a time is all I can say.”