Is there something in the water in Naperville, Illinois, heralded as one of the best places to live by Money magazine? In a story reminiscent of the Marilyn Lemak case in Naperville eight years ago, police there have acknowledged that a suspicious fire over the weekend that killed a mother and her two children was deliberately set by the mother:

Nimisha Tiwari, 32, was captured on a gas station’s surveillance video Saturday afternoon buying a can of gasoline, Naperville police Chief David Dial said at a news conference this afternoon. About two hours later, her body and those of her son, Vakadham, 4, and daughter, Anaya, 1, were found in flames in the master bedroom of the family’s home in the 1900 block of Nutmeg Lane. Police called it a double-murder and suicide.

The gas can was found next to the bed and a lighter was lying next to Tiwari’s body, Dial said. He said police believe she poured gas outside the bedroom door, on the floor in the room, and possibly on herself before igniting the blaze.

Apparently Tiwari had filed an order of protection against her husband in May, claiming that “he encouraged her to kill herself, abused their son, drained their joint checking account and shoved her mother.” The husband countered that “he feared that his wife’s impulsivity endangers the children.”

No matter what the truth is here, it’s a tragic story indeed.

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