ORANGE PARK, Fla. — On Thursday, the former home of local child murderer Jarred Harrell will be burned.
Harrell is serving a life sentence for abducting, violating and killing 7-year-old Somer Thompson in 2009.
The Orange Park Fire Department will burn that former crime scene as part of a training exercise. Action News spoke to Somer's mother Diena Thompson about the planned burn of the home.
"Today I am struggling with words because there are so many emotions, gut wrenching sickening emotions," Diena Thompson said.
The bricks and boarded up windows at 1152 Gano Avenue build a house of horrific memories for Diena Thompson.
Action News: "What's it like when you drive by that house?"
"I did everything I could to avoid that place. It's evil," she said.
In 2009, it was at that Orange Park home where Diena's 7-year old daughter Somer was kidnapped and killed on her way home from school.
We spoke with Diena Thompson just hours after she bashed in a few walls inside that house.
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"Being about to put some of that anger and hate into that wall," Diena Thompson said.
The home belonged to Harrell, who is serving six life sentences after pleading guilty to Somer's murder.
"I refuse to say his name," Diena Thompson said.
Now the house off Grove Park and Gano belongs to Diena Thompson and the Somer Thompson Foundation.
"Do you know what it's like to beg the bank for a foreclosed house that a 7-year-old was viciously attacked and murdered in? It took over five years," Diena Thompson said.
Now some good can come out of the haunting home. Diena Thompson donated the house to the Orange Park Fire Department for training.
"What better thing to do than destroy it and let them train to save people's lives?" she said.
On Tuesday, crews used the boarded-up house to work on search and rescue. Thursday, firefighters will burn the house down as part of that training, incinerating the site of an unthinkable crime with it.
Action News: "What's it going to be like when that house is gone and there's nothing left?"
“I wish I could answer that question for me … Ask me on Thursday … Ask me on Thursday,” Diena Thompson said.
Diena Thompson said there is a plan in place to turn this property into something else but can't say what yet.
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