NEW ORLEANS — Days after a fire at the Amies Paradise apartments displaced 26 people, tenants continued to salvage what they can.
One man didn’t want to be identified, but the frustration in his voice was noticeable when it came to Jazlynn Major, the former tenant accused of setting the fire.
“They got people out here that are mentally messed up, that was selfish, real selfish,” said the tenant.
According to an eviction judgement in First City Court, Major had 24 hours to leave the complex. That order came down earlier on Monday. Later that night, more than 70 firefighters responded to the complex.
Tenants managed to escape, but one dog died.
Major was arrested in Texas and is now facing 26 counts of aggravated arson. Through copies of text messages obtained by Eyewitness News, it appears that some combative exchanges took place between Major and Vivian Amiawalan, the landlord.
When she filed for eviction on Aug. 21, Amiawalan submitted copies of some of her communications with Major. She claimed Major owed her two months’ worth of rent. In a profanity-laced text message from July 24, Major allegedly wrote “you ain’t getting s**t from me, but a bill for all my s**t that you destroyed.”
Later in the message, Major allegedly said “You can play these stupid [expletive] games…regardless I must warn you that this will be unpleasant.”
That message ended with “don’t be an idiot before you lose everything.”
In certain points of the text messages major allegedly pleads with Amiawalan for services like turning the water back on and unlocking the laundry room.
The messages also accuse Amiawalan of being a slum lord. The tenant we spoke with says Amiawalan was a good landlord.
“Miss Vivian takes care of this property and she takes care of us. I don’t know what her personal problem was, but that girl (Major) was like mental,” the tenant said.
There are 32-pages worth of text messages. Insults are thrown at the landlord’s husband, saying he's “inbred.” One message from July 31 reads in part “I aint got s**t for ya’ll but these weapons.”
We’ve yet to verify if these messages actually came from Major’s cell phone. That will likely be answered after Major is extradited back to New Orleans.
Amiawalan declined to be interviewed. We did submit questions to her via email. She said Major had been a tenant for about five months.
Amiawalan denied being a slumlord and said she had limited interactions with Major.
She issued the following statement: “I submitted the text messages to show the court our correspondence with each other. I felt the court should have documentation. It was an eviction case. I was disturbed. I feel bad for everyone who has lost their stuff. I’m grateful that the people are OK. I feel bad for my friend who lost his friend. I wish she would have not set the building on fire. She could have killed a human being for nothing. Her actions did lead to the extermination of life. This was all a big waste. I hope she gets help.”
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