Kristine Bunch released after 16 years on $5000 bail, awaiting new trial

The state plans to try her again on murder and arson charges for the 1995 fire that killed her 3-year-old son.

It happened in 1995 when a fire broke out in her Greensburg mobile home and claimed her son Tony's life. Kristine was sentenced to 60 years in prison in 1996 after a Decatur County jury convicted her of murder and arson. The same judge who sentenced her denied a 2006 petition for post-conviction relief based on new evidence.

Prosecutors said Kristine poured kerosene in the bedroom of her son, Tony, and throughout the living room of her mobile home and set it on fire. There was never any clear motive established.

She did asked a friend to take custody of the boy about a year before the fire so she could "get away from it all" and she had made inconsistent statements about the blaze. Now 16 years later, she is out on a bond of $5,000 and was out in about 30 minutes after the judge issued his order at the suggestion of prosecutors. 

Kristine will living with her 58-year-old mother, Susan Hubbard, and her 16-year-old son, Trenton, in Lincoln Villiage Town Homes until she goes back to court. The appeals court ordered a new trial in March, finding that the evidence used to convict her was outdated, weak and wrongly withheld from the defense.

Her attorney, Ron Safer, was disappointed they still planned another trial in light of scientific advances, since he believes there was no real evidence of arson.

So now 16 years later, Kristine is looking forward to doing the everyday things that most people take for granted, like shopping, eating out, and using the Internet, which she has never seen. She is excited to get on Facebook and use a cell phone.

Someone spoke to Kristine at Lincoln Villiage and she said "she try to put the fire out and ran for help but people saw her fleain and thought she did it back in1995. Now new evidence demonstrates that it was an accidental fire"