On trial for her husband's murder

VAN BUREN COUNTY, Mich. (NEWSCHANNEL 3) – The trial has begun in the 2007 death of a West Michigan man allegedly murdered by his wife.

Prosecutors say that Linda Stermer killed her husband, Todd, in January of 2007. He died in a fire that burned down the family home.

Jury selection began Tuesday morning in a courtroom in Paw Paw.

Almost three years have passed since the fire on County Road 215 in Lawrence Township. That fire was first noticed by a passerby, and drew in six fire departments to fight it.

That afternoon, firefighters found Todd Stermer unresponsive outside the home. He had died from severe burns and smoke inhalation.

Ten months after the fire, in October of 2007, Van Buren County's prosecutor ruled the fire arson, but no one faced charges in the death of Todd Stermer, until June of 2009 when a judge arraigned Linda Stermer for deliberately setting the fire.

The investigation found liquid petroleum, an accelerant, at the home.

"I don't believe any of it," said Linda's daughter Ashley Gibson. "I don't know why they waited two and a half years to arrest her."

Linda Stermer's attorney said at the arraignment that her client had no criminal record and even talked under oath to insurance companies about the fire.

Ashley Gibson, the couple's oldest child, spoke with Newschannel 3 and said that her mother fully cooperated with investigators.

"She never left Lawrecne, she never left the place where we all lived," said Gibson, "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."