Charged with her husband's death

VAN BUREN COUNTY, Mich. (NEWSCHANNEL 3) - A Van Buren County woman is facing murder charges in the 2007 death of her husband.

Linda Stermer was arrested on Friday. She now faces two felony murder charges for allegedly setting fire to her home with her husband Todd still inside.

On Monday, Stermer faced a judge for the first time. Her lawyer says Stermer has no prior criminal record and even talked under oath to insurance companies about the fire, but Stermer now sits in jail, facing felony charges for arson and the murder of her husband Todd.

Todd's death certificate says firefighters found him unresponsive outside the home on County Road 215 in January of 2007. He died of smoke inhalation and thermal injuries, but the manner of death officially remains as pending, not as a homicide.

Several members of Stermer's family attended Monday's arraignment. Outside the courthouse, Todd and Linda's oldest child defended her mother for cooperating in the 29 months since the fire.

"She never left Lawrence, she never left the place where we all lived, and she didn't want to, she didn't pull my brothers out of school, she had nothing to hide, she didn't sell anything, she's, you know, where her and Todd were," said Ashley Gibson, Stermer's daughter.

The judge denied bond for Stermer, so she will remain in the Van Buren County jail until her next court appearance.