Nicole Lebby-Wiley thought she was dreaming when she awoke to a 4 a.m. phone call delivering devastating news: Her sister-in-law had died in a Labor Day fire.

Just hours earlier, around 1 a.m., DeKalb County firefighters had pulled 48-year-old Stephanie Wiley out of her bedroom as heavy flames engulfed her Stonecrest apartment. She’d suffered burns and inhaled smoke.

“My brother-in-law called me and pretty much told me that her apartment caught on fire, and she was rushed to the hospital and she didn’t make it,” Lebby-Wiley told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Adding to the tragedy, investigators have said they believe the fire was intentionally set, and they suspect Wiley’s ex-boyfriend, Shawn Fails.

The 44-year-old was arrested later Monday, nearly 100 miles away in Alabama, on c

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