Convicted arsonist released from prison

Pictured: Charlie Smith(left) and Tonya Bundick(right).

Tonya Susan Bundick, who became a local household name and was the subject of books and media stories across the globe more than a decade ago, was reportedly released from prison this week.

The 52-year-old Hopeton woman was accused of setting fire to 62 properties on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, along with her former fiancé, 50-year-old Charles Robert Smith II, also known as Charlie Applegate, who was released from prison in October 2023.

The arson spree frightened many Eastern Shore residents for months as they kept glued to their scanners in late 2012 and early 2013 to hear 9-1-1 dispatchers send firefighters and police officers to the next inferno.

Smith was a former volunteer firefighter and owned a Tasley auto body shop.

The two were stopped as they fled from a crime scene in Melfa. All the fires that occurred during that period caused about $2 million in damage. No one was injured.

Bundick severed all ties with Smith and got married several years ago. Her plans for the future were not available.