Latest Arson News

Police suspect arson in fire at Wyoming abortion clinic site
CASPER, Wyo. (AP) — An abortion clinic set to open next month in conservative Wyoming was damaged in a fire early Wednesday that police believe was deliberately set — possibly by someone seen running away from the building carrying what appeared to be a gas can and a bag. The...
Man sentenced to life in deaths of Missouri mother, daughter
CAMDENTON, Mo. (AP) — A Camdenton man has been sentenced to two life terms in prison without parole for shooting a woman and her daughter after a long dispute over the daughter's sexual orientation. Steven Endsley, 59, was sentenced Monday in the deaths of Danielle M. Smith, 27,...
Arizona court upholds man's convictions, death sentences
PHOENIX (AP) — The Arizona Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a man's convictions and death sentences in the 2012 killing of his nine-months pregnant girlfriend who was bound, handcuffed and gagged when her partially burned body was found in a bed by firefighters responding to an apartment fire. ...
Man pleads guilty to setting fires in California forest
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A man who set nearly a dozen wildfires in a Northern California national forest pleaded guilty Monday to being a serial arsonist. Eric Michael Smith, 41, of Redding, entered guilty pleas to four counts of arson in a federal court in Sacramento but...
Police: Atlanta pastor killed by man she was helping
ATLANTA (AP) — A man stabbed and killed a pastor who was ministering to him in his Georgia home, then put her body in a van and set it on fire, police said. The Rev. Marita Harrell, 57, was a wife and mother of two and went into the ministry later in life. She was a senior pastor...

Man gets 24 years in prison for fire that killed 12 condors
SALINAS, Calif. (AP) — A man who started a 2020 wildfire that killed 12 endangered California condors and seriously injured a firefighter was sentenced to 24 years in state prison, prosecutors said. Ivan Gomez, 31, was sentenced Wednesday by a Monterey County judge for setting the...

20 years after spate of hospital deaths, ex-worker accused
In the five months that Jennifer Anne Hall was a respiratory therapist at Hedrick Medical Center, the rural Missouri hospital experienced 18 “code blue” incidents — an alarming increase in sudden cardiac arrest events for a hospital that historically averaged one of them a year, according to...

California tree trimmer guilty in deadly throat-slashings
OROVILLE, Calif. (AP) — A tree trimmer in rural Northern California was found guilty in a series of throat-slashing attacks that left three people dead, prosecutors announced Wednesday. A jury in Butte County on Tuesday found Ryan Scott Blinston, 37, guilty of murder, attempted...
Arson probe after 14 homes being built in Marana destroyed
MARANA, Ariz. (AP) — Authorities in the Tucson suburb of Marana are investigating whether a fire that destroyed 14 homes under construction homes was arson. Marana police officials said the fire started late Friday night. By the time crews from the Northwest Fire...
Chillicothe police: Man dies after setting himself on fire
CHILLICOTHE, Mo. (AP) — A man is dead after he doused himself with liquid and set himself on fire after being stopped by police for erratic driving, Chillicothe police said. Police said in a news release the events began Wednesday evening when people reported a man was approaching...
