Caddo Grand Jury true bills fire victims' grandmother

Indictments charging a Shreveport woman with two counts of second-degree murder, as well as other associated felony and misdemeanor crimes, are among the true bills handed up by the Caddo Parish Grand Jury in its session that concluded Wednesday, May 20, 2026.

Rita Ann Spearman Montgomery, 51, faces the murder charges, which upon conviction carry mandatory life prison sentences, in connection with the deaths of two juveniles as a result of a fire at a residence in the 3100 block of Milton Street in the Queensborough neighborhood on October 13, 2025. The victims, Montgomery's granddaughters, were sisters Aaliyah Robinson, 8, and Danielle Spearman, 5. Danielle Spearman succumbed to her injuries October 18, 2025, and Aaliyah Robinson succumbed to her injuries October 19, 2025. 

Other felony charges in the indictment are two counts of conspiracy to commit aggravated arson, and two charges of the manufacture and possession of delayed action incendiary devices.

She also is charged with felony prohibited acts and sanctions and a final misdemeanor charge for contributing to the delinquency of a minor. A teen and relative of the two victims, was initially arrested October 24, 2025, by Shreveport Police but was not true-billed by the November 2025 Grand Jury session.

According to prosecutors, the home subject to the arson investigation was affected by two separate fires — one at the rear of the residence that occurred just before midnight on October 12, 2025, and the fatal fire that occurred at the front of the residence at approximately 1:45 A.M. on October 13, 2025. The teen and the two minor victims lived in the house with approximately 10 other people. Investigators relied upon video surveillance retrieved from the home of a neighbor in their homicide investigation. The surveillance showed the initial fire being set on October 12, 2025, but it did not reveal the identification or the gender of the person setting the fire. There is no video of the fire set at the front of the residence that resulted in the deaths of the two minor children.

Montgomery is charged under indictment No. 414717. 

The remaining indictments handed up Wednesday are companion cases but are not directly related to the fire. They are:

* Alonzo Cooksey, 45, of Shreveport, is charged with felony prohibited activities and sanctions, as well as misdemeanor contributing to the delinquency of juveniles. His indictment is No. 414712.

* Bobby Dupree Grant, 36, of Shreveport, is charged with misdemeanor contributing to the delinquency of juveniles, in indictment No. 414731.

* Sherika Spearman, 34, of Shreveport, is charged with misdemeanor contributing to the delinquency of juveniles, in indictment No. 414739.

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