Witness sought in fire death was tried for arson murders

Floyd

Janice Renee Floyd, 36, was released from Western Mental Health Institute 90 days after a court found her not guilty by reason of insanity.

Floyd is wanted for questioning as a witness, said Dyer County Sheriff's Department investigators. Floyd, who was described by Lomax as his fiancé in a theft report filed days before the fire, has not been seen since Monday.

According to court documents from Chester County, where the fire occurred, Floyd confessed she set fire to her family's home in May 1999. Her mother and brother were killed in the fire.

According to court documents, Floyd told mental health evaluators she had been sexually abused since the age of four by her father, and had been hospitalized in a mental health facility on seven prior occasions. She told investigators voices in her head had told her to set fire to her father's clothes that she found sitting in the carport. The fire spread to the home and engulfed it, the court record said. Floyd confessed to her sister in October 1999 she had been responsible for the fire.

Floyd filed an appeal to the state after the trial court tried to have her committed for longer than 90 days. The appeals court in July 2001 decided in Floyd's favor, pointing to technical errors in the prosecution and that she presented no threat to the public.

Investigators began to consider Floyd a witness after she came to their attention after a failed suicide attempt hours after Lomax was found dead.

Deputies transported her from Dyersburg Regional Medical Center to Western State in Bolivar for treatment, but she was declined admission. When she returned to Dyersburg, a local church paid for her to stay a week at a hotel, but she disappeared after state and local investigators questioned her on Monday.

Anyone with information on Floyd's whereabouts is urged to contact Dyer County Sheriff's Department Chief Investigator Terry McCreight at (731) 285-2802, extension 112.