A Chelsea woman was held without bail after her arraignment on murder and arson charges in the wake of the Christmas Eve house fire that killed a 20-year-old living in another apartment in the house.

Melissa Pfeiffer, 26, and her boyfriend lived at 265 Spruce St., in a lower level apartment. The fire killed Crystal Lynn Blanchard and seriously injured her boyfriend, who were trapped in a unit above the blaze.

“In the evening of Dec. 24, the defendant and her boyfriend became involved in an argument,” Assistant District Attorney Mark Lee said. “Generally speaking, it was over money. The argument ended at about 10:00 or 10:30 p.m. and the boyfriend left the building.”

Pfeiffer’s boyfriend returned to the building at about 11:00 and saw Pfeiffer leaving the building, Lee said.

A short time later, a group of people driving by saw flames coming from the building and called 911.

Lee said that Blanchard and her boyfriend were trapped by smoke and flames on the building’s second floor. The boyfriend suffered serious burns before finally jumping from a window and further injuring himself.

“Miss Blanchard was unable to get out of the building,” Lee said. “She subsequently died of her injuries.”

Lee said that two witnesses cam forward and reported that Pfeiffer had admitted to setting her boyfriend’s clothes on fire.

Pfeiffer was held without bail.

State Police attached to Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley’s office and Chelsea Police detectives yesterday arrested a Chelsea woman in connection with the fatal Christmas Eve fire in Chelsea.

Melissa Pfeiffer, 26, will be arraigned today in Chelsea District Court, charged with arson and murder in setting the fire that killed 20-year-old Crystal Lynn BLanchard.

Pfeiffer was taken into custody at Chelsea Police headquarters, officials said.

“The charges arise out of Blanchard’s death and injuries to a 33-year-old male after Pfeiffer allegedly set a fire inside her residence at 295 Spruce St. at about 11:00 p.m. on December 24,” said Jake Wark, a spokesman for Conley. “That residence was a five-unit apartment building; Pfeiffer lived on the ground floor and the victims lived on the second floor.”

No details were released, and authorities did not comment on a motive. More details will be announced at arraignment.

A 50-year-old Chelsea woman was found dead in her driveway early Tuesday morning, and her husband has been arrested for beating her, police said.

A passerby found Theresa Wilkes lying in the driveway of her home at 123 Maverick St. around 6 a.m., said Captain Keith Houghton, a Chelsea Police spokesman.

Shortly after Wilkes was found, an investigation led police to her husband, Frederick Wilkes, 54. While Houghton did not detail the facts and circumstances surrounding the incident, he said that Frederick was arrested for domestic assault and battery on his wife. He will be arraigned Tuesday afternoon in Chelsea District Court.

Police have a history with the Wilkes family. On September 16, Frederick was arrested for assaulting his wife with a dangerous weapon. Theresa did not pursue a restraining order at the time, police said.

According to police, alcohol was involved in Theresa’s death, both for her and Frederick.

Jake Wark, a spokesman for Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley, said State Troopers from their office are investigating. Conley investigates unattended deaths in Chelsea and other parts of Suffolk County, including state property in Boston.

An autopsy by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner is expected to determine the cause of death.

After a homicide-free year in 2009, Chelsea has had at least a half dozen homicides.

This latest death follows a startling trend of domestic homicides all over Massachusetts.

The 16-year-old Chelsea boy who was stabbed in the heart and killed Sunday morning was identified by authorities as Cesar Jeronimo Umana.

Chelsea and State police responded to Umana’s Grove Street home around 1:30 a.n. and found him mortally wounded. He was taken to Whidden Memorial Hospital in Everett where he died.

Police are investigating a possible gang connection.

Anyone with information on the circumstances of his death is urged to call Chelsea Police detectives at 617-466-4826, the Chelsea Police anonymous tip line at 617-466-4880, or the Suffolk County State Police Detective Unit at 617-727-8817.

Hours after a 16-year-old boy was stabbed to death in Chelsea early Sunday morning, police in Revere found a man in a marsh near Route 107 in neighboring Revere.

Authorities do not believe the deaths are connected, but Chelsea police have noted an upswing in gang-related violence and are investigating the first death as a gang killing.

State Police homicide detectives assigned to Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley’s office are investigating both deaths. The second body was found at 11:20 a.m.

The second death does not obviously appear suspicious, said Jake Wark, a spokesman for Conley, but police will investigate to determine a cause of death.

State Police in Suffolk County have jurisdiction over unattended or suspicious deaths in Chelsea, Revere, Winthrop, and all state property in Boston.

A bloody year in Chelsea continued Sunday morning after a 16-year-old boy was stabbed to death on Grove Street in the sixth homicide this year in tiny city bordering Boston to the north.

Police responded around 1:35 a.m. to 60 Grove Street where they found the victim unconscious, with a single stab wound to the chest.

The boy was taken to Whidden Hospital in Everett where he was pronounced dead.

Police did not release details on the stabbing or the name of the victim.

“Investigators are interviewing neighbors and witnesses to determine the circumstances that led to the attack,” said Chelsea Police Captain Keith Houghton.

Chelsea has endeavored to rebuild since a financial collapse put the city under stage control during a period marked with violent crime and quality of life issues. After a homicide-free year in 2009, gang and drug violence has spiked in Chelsea this year.

Chelsea Police are asking for anyone with information regarding this incident to call Chelsea Police Detectives at 617-466-4826. Chelsea residents are reminded they can provide information anonymously to the Police Department by calling the 24 hr Crime Stoppers TIP line at 617-466-4880 or texting the word Chelsea and then their message to tip411 (847411) from their cell phone. Anonymous tips can also be submitted from the Police Department website.

Police in Chelsea arrested a man wanted in connection with an early morning home invasion. Two others are still on the loose.

Firefighters responding to a report of smoke coming from a Lafayette Avenue apartment came upon the robbery in progress when one of the suspects jumped from a third floor window to try to escape.

That man, Carnne Augustin, 25, of Chelsea, was quickly apprehended by police. When he was arrested, he had a .357 handgun and was carrying more than $10,000 concealed around his body. Another $20,000 was found in a black bag near the scene.

Augustin will be arraigned in Chelsea District Court Thursday morning where he faces multiple charges including armed home invasion and illegal carrying of a firearm

Police are investigating a possible drug connection.

The initial investigation and interview with the victims suggests that one victim was dumping trash in a compactor when he was forced at gunpoint by two men to give his keys and apartment number. One suspect stayed with the victim while another went in the apartment and tied up a second victim with a computer cord and robbed the apartment.

The arrival of the Chelsea Fire Department spooked the suspects. One fled on foot to a waiting silver car. That man and his driver got away.

CHELSEA — A dangerous fugitive who escaped custody last month was captured Monday night.

Joel McDonald, 20, of Chelsea, had escaped police custody April 22 while being transported to Chelsea District Court. McDonald was being held in connection with a Jan. 21 shooting in Chelsea and was appearing in course to face multiple charges, including assault with intent to murder.

He was captured in a Dorchester apartment late Monday night and will be arraigned this morning in Chelsea.

McDonald had led state, local, and federal authorities on an expansive manhunt over the past month.

"The US Marshal Service Fugitive Unit’s persistence left no doubt that his arrest was only a matter of time,” said Chelsea Police Chief Brian A. Kyes.

A Suffolk Superior Court jury convicted a Chelsea man on Thursday of stabbing his mother’s boyfriend to death during a fight at their Chester Avenue home two years ago.

Eugene Teixeira, 23, was convicted on manslaughter for the April 29, 2008 stabbing death of Cleo Wiggins.

Jurors found Teixeira’s brother, Aasim Smith, now 18, not guilty.

“Prosecutors had argued during the two-week trial that Teixeira fatally stabbed Wiggins and that Smith, who allegedly wielded a baseball bat but was kept away from Wiggins by a family friend, shared his deadly intent,” prosecutors said.

But a jury only believed Teixeira was guilty.

In what Chelsea police called “a scene out of a horror movie,” an illegal dental operation was shut down yesterday.

City inspectors and fire investigators, acting on a tip, had police raid a building on Essex Street, where they found the illegal operation being run out of a dirty basement.

Police found dental instruments, blood from a recent procedure, and other equipment described as “rudimentary” and “unsanitary” in a small partitioned area of the basement.

Police don’t, however, know who was running the illegal dentist’s office.

Police are asking residents to call anonymously to 24 hr Crime Stoppers TIP line at 617-466-4880 or texting the word Chelsea and then their message to tip411 (847411) from their cell phone. Anonymous web tips can also be submitted right from the Police Departments website at www.chelseapolice.com.

An employee of the State Garden produce market in Chelsea was killed Friday when an elevator fell on him.

The 35-year-old was working in the elevator shaft when rigging meant to keep the elevator in place apparently gave way and crushed him at about 4 p.m.

Police do not expect foul play, but state police and Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley are investigating the case.

Investigators from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration have also responded to the Beacham Street scene in Chelsea, authorities said.

A clerk at the Chelsea District Court was busted by the FBI this morning and charged with having sex with an accused prostitute in a courtroom in exchange for promising to help fix a charge against her, the Boston Globe reported.

James “Jim” Burke, 41, of Chelsea, was released on $10,000 bond and will be back in court March 26 for a hearing.

“It’s a perversion of the legal system and a gross abuse of power,” Assistant US Attorney Brian T. Kelly, head of the US attorney’s public corruption unit, told Globe reporter Shelley Murphy.

According to the charges, the accused prostitute was in court in December trying to get her prostitution charges dismissed when she saw Burke and told her lawyer that Burke approached her when she was in court in similar charges in 2005. She said she gave Burke oral sex in the courtroom in exchange for his help getting the case thrown out.

She, and her lawyer, went to the FBI.

BOSTON — Norton Cartright, 21, has been found guilty of first degree murder in the brutal slaying of his mother in 2006

It was a quick trial. We reported on the opening remarks just about a week ago, and even the jury didn’t take long to come back with a verdict.

Early on in police questioning a few years ago, the prosecution said Cartright admitted that he did indeed strike 46-year-old Yolande Danestoir in the head with a hammer on Aug. 26, 2006, after a heated argument. Danestoir, the prosecutor said, had banned Cartright from her Reynolds Street home in the course of what he called a “volatile” relationship, then found him inside when she returned home from work that morning.

Danestoir’s body was found 10 days later in a kitchen closet wrapped in a sleeping bag.

UPDATE 4:36 p.m. He has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.