'Y'all ready to play': Man set home ablaze over unpaid debt but ended up killing an innocent woman after torching entry points

Inset: Courtney Allen Thompson Jr. (Galveston County Jail). Background: The home in Galveston, Texas, that Thompson set ablaze, killing a 55-year-old woman (KTRK).

A Texas man will spend the rest of his days behind bars after he set fire to a home over an unpaid debt but ended up killing his intended target's mother.

Courtney Allen Thompson Jr., 22, was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to life in prison for the death of 55-year-old Renita Hawthorne in Galveston. According to prosecutors, Galveston fire and police responded in February 2024 to a house fire in the 700 block of 39th Street. Crews busted out a bedroom window and rescued three people, including two children.

But they were unable to get to Hawthorne, who died of carbon monoxide and thermal injuries.

Authorities quickly deemed the fire arson and zeroed in on Thompson and a drug dealer, Xavier Faison, also known as Saccathon, who was never charged in the incident. Hawthorne's son testified that Faison had been threatening him and his mother over a drug debt.

According to court documents obtained by local CBS affiliate KHOU, Faison sent messages to Hawthorne's son saying "See y'all ready to play" and "Don't your mama drive that truck with the window busted?"

Surveillance video depicted a black vehicle driving around the area. The SUV stopped and two men, including one holding a gas can, walked up to the home. They ran away and flames erupted at the home shortly thereafter.

Thompson poured gasoline in the entry points of the home, making it impossible to escape without the help of firefighters.

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Prosecutors said Faison bragged about the fire in a video posted to his Instagram page, saying he was prepared to burn down all of Galveston and hoped Hawthorne was dead.

At trial, jurors also heard from a jailhouse informant who said Thompson admitted to setting the fire. The informant said he came forward because he did not like how Thompson was bragging about killing an innocent woman.

Prosecutor Adam Poole represented the state in the case.

"During closing arguments, Poole argued that setting the fire at each of the doors showed that Thompson's intent was to trap and kill everyone inside, and likened his actions to building a tomb and then setting it on fire. Poole referenced one of Thompson's Instagram posts in arguing that Thompson saw Renita Hawthorne as a stack of cash that he could balance in his head and flaunt on social media."