SOUTH WEBER, Utah (ABC4) – Details have emerged after a man allegedly made threats with a knife and set fire to a home in Davis County on Wednesday, Jan. 11.
The 65-year-old man was booked into the Davis County Jail and faces first-degree felony charges of aggravated arson, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated burglary, and aggravated sexual assault. He also faces two Class B misdemeanor charges, one for interfering with an officer and another for the interference of a communications device.
Police say the suspect allegedly broke into a South Weber City home using a knife to get through a dog door around 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday. Once inside, he allegedly threatened a woman inside with the knife and told her to handcuff herself behind her back.
The woman, who police say was not the homeowner, reportedly attempted to call for help, but when she pulled out her phone, the man allegedly demanded the phone. The woman told police she was afraid for her life, so she reportedly gave him her phone and handcuffed herself.
According to the police affidavit, the suspect then allegedly proceeded to duct tape her mouth and wrap duct tape around her ankles before making inappropriate comments and touching the woman inappropriately. Police say the woman was able to break free from the handcuffs and hit the man in the head before fleeing the house and calling for help.
Police say the suspect then used a lighter to set fire to some clothes inside the home, leaving the home as a Davis County Deputy arrived on the scene.
“The deputy gave numerous commands to [the suspect] as he sat on the steps to the house holding a knife in his hand,” the affidavit said. “[the suspect] refused to comply with the deputies commands. The deputy was forced to use a taser on [the suspect] to get him into custody. At that point, the home was completely engulfed in smoke and fire.”
The man allegedly admitted to going to the home with the intent of killing another woman, the homeowner, who wasn’t in the home at the time and burning down the building with himself inside. He also reportedly told police would have used a gun but didn’t have a gun as he was a convict.
Detectives say they asked the man if he thought the homeowner was in the house when he started the fire, to which the man allegedly replied he knew she wasn’t but “wished she had been.”
According to police, the man lived together with the homeowner for “multiple years” before she evicted him last summer. Once she kicked the man out of the home, she reportedly changed the locks and stopped talking to him.
Fire crews attempted to save the house, but once the fire was extinguished, the home was declared a total loss, reportedly estimating about $200,000 in damages.
