Woman handed 13-year sentence for arson attack at Crystal Lake home

CRYSTAL LAKE, Ill. — A Boone County woman who mistakenly set fire to the wrong home during an arson attack in Crystal Lake will spend more than a decade in prison.

Brittany Terrell, a 33-year-old Garden Prairie, Illinois, resident, has been sentenced to 13 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections, McHenry County State’s Attorney Randi Freese announced Tuesday.

According to Freese, the incident began on April 20, 2025, when Terrell and an accomplice drove to a residence near downtown Crystal Lake.

Once at the residence, Terrell got out of the car with a metal container containing an ignited accelerant and threw it at the home.

The home subsequently caught fire, and while a good Samaritan passing by was able to extinguish it, the home still suffered exterior damage and charring.

Terrell and her accomplice initially got away, but an extensive investigation by the Crystal Lake Police Department eventually led to their arrests.

Additional investigation, however, also indicated that the home struck by the duo was not the intended target, as the pair mistakenly burned the wrong home. 

Terrell’s sentence was handed down by Judge Mark Gerhardt after she pleaded guilty to a felony charge of residential arson as part of a negotiated plea agreement.

Upon her release, she will face one year of Mandatory Supervised Release.

Terrell is the second person to be sentenced in connection with the incident. Her co-defendant, Jesse Mendez, was previously sentenced to fourteen years.