Man arrested for setting ex-girlfriend’s new love’s home ablaze
A Michigan man was arrested and charged with arson and attempted homicide after he learned his ex-girlfriend made plans to meet up with a man in Pennsylvania.
Harrison Jones, 21, drove over 1,126 kilometres to Bensalem, Pennsylvania, and allegedly lit a man’s house on fire, which killed two dogs and injured six adults.
Bensalem Fire Rescue and Police responded to the emergency in the early hours of February 10.
The six adults in the home had already evacuated, some having to jump from the second story of the house to save themselves, according to police.
Law enforcement suspected that the fire wasn’t accidental and began combing through security footage to locate the alleged arsonist.
Caught on CCTV
Grainy surveillance video from a nearby house captured a black sedan passing the home on Merganser Way.
The footage then revealed someone exiting the vehicle and walking toward the home before it burned down at 5:01 am.
After fifteen minutes, the person was seen running back to the car as smoke billowed in the air behind him.
A large explosion could then be heard as the alleged arsonist fled the scene of the crime.
It’s unclear what caused the explosion and how the home burned down so quickly, but detectives located the individual in the black sedan.
Law enforcement used intersection cameras to find the sedan’s license plate, and they eventually determined the car was a 2021 black Volkswagen Passat with a Michigan registration.
The car belonged to a man in Rockford named Brian Jones, 53, who lives at the same residence as Harrison.
Detectives tracked the vehicle’s path and saw the car travelling toward Bensalem before the fire and back to Rockford after it.
Set a date
The pieces began to come together when a 21-year-old male resident of the destroyed home, whose identity has not yet been revealed, told police that he had plans to meet up with a woman from Michigan later that week.
The two had developed an online relationship and she was planning to visit him in Pennsylvania for the first time in just days.
Police discovered that the woman’s ex-boyfriend was Harrison Jones, the man allegedly driving the Volkswagen Passat on the night of the fire.
Detectives in Pennsylvania contacted the Kent County Sheriff’s Office in Michigan and officers obtained a search warrant for the vehicle.
Police seized the Volkswagen Passat and found lock-picking devices, a cell phone, and a computer.
The suspect also reportedly had burns on his arm when cops confronted him, according to police.
Harrison was arrested and charged with Attempted Criminal Homicide, Arson, and Risking Catastrophe. Kent County officers are holding the suspect as he awaits extradition back to Pennsylvania.
The suspect allegedly drove almost 12 hours to carry out the crimes that almost took the lives of six individuals.
Authorities have not released the identities of the six victims and it’s unclear how extensive their injuries are.
They were transported to a local hospital when law enforcement arrived. The destroyed home was a single-family two-story structure.
Dailymail.com contacted Bensalem Police and the Kent County Sheriff’s Office for an update on the case but didn’t immediately hear back.
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