The third and final defendant in a Vinton arson case pleaded guilty Thursday, saying she helped plan the burning of her own home in hopes of collecting insurance money.

Melissa Michelle Combow, 41, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Roanoke to conspiring to burn her and her husband's home. The Dec. 28 blaze in the 1300 block of Hardy Road occurred while Michelle and Shawn Thomas Combow were on a trip to Virginia Beach.

Craig Frye, a Vinton police detective who works with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, testified Thursday that the Combows' home was in disrepair and they were about $4,000 behind on their real estate taxes when they agreed to pay their friend Aaron Eugene Woods to set the fire. The Combows expected to collect $467,000 from insurance for their house and the U-Haul and car detailing businesses they ran from it, Frye said.

But investigators quickly suspected the fire was set and found traces of the gasoline used to start it. They discovered that Woods had swapped his clothes washer and dryer for the newer models in the Combows' home. And officers recovered items Shawn Combow had removed from his home before leaving town, then discarded in Christiansburg as investigators closed in.

Earlier this month, Shawn Combow and Woods pleaded guilty to conspiring to burn the home, and Woods pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm.

All three defendants face a minimum 10-year prison term on the conspiracy charge, but Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennie Waering said she likely would file a substantial assistance motion for Melissa Combow. Such motions are filed to recognize assistance given in other cases and allow a judge to set aside mandatory minimums.

Sentencing is scheduled for March 29 for Woods and Shawn Combow, and for April 5 for Melissa Combow.

-- Mike Gangloff