Mother Held in Fire Waives Extradition : Crime: Kansas doctor faces arson and murder charges in blaze that destroyed her house and killed two of her three children.

A woman accused of setting a house fire that killed two of her three hildren waived extradition to Kansas on Friday to face arson and murder charges. She remained in jail on a $3-million bond.

Debora Green, a physician, is charged with aggravated arson and two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Tim Farrar, 13, and Kelly Farrar, 6. Green is also charged with two counts of attempted first-degree murder.

Green, 44, and another daughter, Kate Farrar, 10, escaped the Oct. 24 fire at their home in Prairie Village, Kan., a suburb of Kansas City.

Green was arrested Wednesday outside a Kansas City theater where she had taken Kate--who had a starring role in an upcoming production of “The Nutcracker”--for ballet practice. Investigators said accelerants poured in several areas destroyed the family’s six-bedroom, $400,000 home.

Green faced a first court appearance Monday in suburban Olathe, Kan. Her attorneys said they may seek to have her bond reduced.

Clad in light blue jail-issue clothes and handcuffed to another prisoner, Green spoke softly but clearly in waiving extradition before Judge Peggy Stevens McGraw.

Before the hearing began, Green sat in a holding area with several other prisoners, speaking quietly and laughing occasionally in talks with her three attorneys. She appeared relaxed.

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After the hearing, attorney Ellen Ryan said Green was “in profound grief” over the fire and the loss of her children. Green is consumed with worry for her surviving daughter, Ryan said.

“That’s all she talks about is worry about Kate, and what the pressure is doing to Kate,” Ryan said.

“I think she is still somewhat dazed and confused,” Ryan added. “She’s very surprised that she would be charged with these kinds of crimes. She lost everything in this fire including her children, everything, and she’s astounded.”

Green’s lead attorney, Dennis Moore, said Green maintains her innocence.

“She’s asserted her innocence and we’re going to stick with that,” Moore said.

The investigation included a closer look at a fire about 16 months earlier that damaged the family’s previous home and the mysterious illness of the children’s father, Dr. Michael Farrar, weeks before the October fire.

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Farrar, who filed for divorce the day after the fire, was not at the Prairie Village house when the fire broke out.

Green escaped through her back bedroom door on the first floor. Kate survived by climbing through her second-floor bedroom window onto the garage roof and jumping to safety.

Johnson County, Kan., Dist. Atty. Paul Morrison said one of the attempted-murder charges stemmed from the fire and the second was related to a poisoning attempt. He would not elaborate on the suspected poisoning.

Morrison has said he believes that the fire was motivated by “a domestic situation” but has refused further comment.