A National Treasure is gone after authorities say a model, who was reportedly doing drugs inside one of the world's oldest trees near Orlando, Florida, casued it to be burned it to the ground. INSIDE EDITION has the story.
It's a true national tragedy. The oldest tree in the country and one of the oldest trees in the world, burned to the ground and you won't believe what caused the disaster.
An aspiring model is to blame, authorities say, for accidentally torching the legendary 3,500-year-old cypress tree near Orlando, Florida.
Perhaps the suspect, Sarah Barnes, put it best when she reportedly told friends, "I can't believe I burned down a tree older than Jesus."
Barnes allegedly went to Big Tree Park and climbed inside the tree's hollow trunk to do drugs.
Cops say she lit a fire to see what she was doing and suddenly set the tree ablaze, because the tree was hollow, it burned like a chimney.
The marvel known as "The Big Tree" stood at 126-feet-tall, with a circumference of nearly 18 feet.
Jim Duby, the program manager of Seminole County Natural Lands Program told INSIDE EDITION, "It's very sad, devastating for a lot of people. I really thought it would always be here."
The tragedy was originally thought to have been triggered by a bolt of lightning, but tipsters led cops to Sarah Barnes. She was arrested and charged with a third degree felony for reducing a National Monument to nothing.
