Wyoming authorities say a woman arrested this week for setting fire last year to an abortion clinic under construction told investigators that she opposes abortion and was experiencing anxiety and nightmares over the facility opening.
22-year-old Lorna Green of Casper made an initial appearance by video Thursday in federal court in Cheyenne. She remains jailed in Wheatland with no bond set yet.
The Wellspring Health Access clinic in Casper was damaged May 25, 2022, in what’s been ruled to have been an arson fire.
In early March, an anonymous donor added $10,000 to the $5,000 reward in the arson case, and investigators received a dozen tips – including four naming Green as a suspect.
An image in one of Green’s social media accounts showed her wearing shoes that matched those worn by the arson suspect, and she drove a car that matched a car in security footage shot at the crime scene.
According to court documents, when Green was confronted by investigators on Tuesday, she admitted she broke into the clinic, spread gasoline around, and started the fire. She said she did it amid “nightmares which she attributed to her anxiety about the abortion clinic.”
Green was living in Laramie at the time and said she bought gas cans and aluminum pans at a Walmart the day before the fire, drove to Casper, and put the cans and pans in a bag she carried to the clinic – which matched security video and a witness’s account.
She told investigators she used a rock to break glass in a door and, once inside, poured gasoline into the pans in several rooms and on the floor. She set fire to the gasoline in a room and planned to light more, but the fire spread quickly and she decided to leave.
Green said she slipped on gasoline and fell before she fled out the door, then drove 150 miles (241 kilometers) back to Laramie without stopping.