Imagine you're getting married tomorrow… but you “forgot” one tiny detail: the marriage license. Instead of, you know, fixing that, this bride allegedly went with “burn it all down and start over.”
Lenita “Tessa” Joy Moreno,was at the Latter-day Saints church in Kaysville with her groom and family, setting up for the big day. They finish, start heading out, and suddenly the fire alarm goes off. Not exactly the kind of wedding bells you want.
Everyone rushes back in, grabs water from the wedding decorations, plus a fire extinguisher, and manages to put out a blaze under a chair. Investigators later say the fire was started with “items out of the ordinary,” including what appeared to be a tampon.
Police dig a little deeper and find security footage from Ace Hardware earlier that day, where the bride-to-be allegedly swiped a couple of lighters while shopping for decoration hooks. Then they find out the damage to the church is sitting north of $108,000… and that she’d lied about having a marriage license at all.
So now, instead of walking down the aisle, she’s facing aggravated arson, theft, and “lying to the cops” charges. Cold feet is one thing. Setting the church on fire the day before the wedding? That’s a whole different ceremony.