SARASOTA, Fla. (WWSB) - After being denied bond at her first appearance on Wednesday, the lawyers for suspected arsonist Juanita Pendell waived her right to a pretrial bond hearing Friday.

Pendell is suspected of setting a fire Aug. 5 in a motor home in the Palm & Pines Lakeshore Motor Home & RV Community. This fire took the life of one man.

ABC7 spoke to two of the defendant’s friends who said this is out of character for Pendell.

Francis Emmett says she may have needed a little bit more help. “She’s a sweetheart,” Emmitt sad. ”She has a heart of gold. Everybody’s making her out to be a monster and she became a pain in the neck, and we should’ve intervened more, and we have to try to help her.”

Wesley Singleton, who described himself as a close friend of Pendell conceed thsi wasn’t he

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