Crime Time

Man suspected of started Florida wildfires is caught

The wildfires are still blazing in Florida and Wednesday morning authorities reported that they have arrested a man suspected of starting at least some of them.

The man has been identified as Brian Crowder, 30, who was caught early Wednesday morning after a foot chase that leading to his residence, police said.

Currently there are he wildfires spread across a wide area that have destroyed 62 homes and damaged about 100 more along Florida's Atlantic coast.

-- Lance Murray

Environmental activists linked to luxury home fires

Local and federal investigators are looking into fires that are burning four large home in a development of luxury homes Monday morning northeast of Seattle, Wash.

Authorities say that a sign has been found at the scene proclaiming that the Earth Liberation Front is claiming responsibility for the blazes.

Officials say the fires were set in multiple locations, which make them suspicious.

The ELF is a well-known environmental activist group that has claimed responsibility for other arson attacks, including one in 2001 at the University of Washington for which a woman is on trial in Tacoma, according to reports.

-- Lance Murray

Gruesome tale from small Texas town

From the AP:

ALBA, Texas -- A mother and two children were killed during a predawn attack on their remote East Texas ranch where police said another man was critically injured by gunshot wounds and the family's house burned to the ground.

Four people, including three high school students and one juvenile, were arrested. Said a 67-year-old man who lives a mile away: "All you read about out here are ticky-tacky crimes in the local paper. I never lock my doors. This is a quiet place."

>> Read more

-- John Metz

"Mary Had a Little Lamb" fire suspects in custody

We've all heard the nursery rhyme, "Mary Had a Little Lamb."

Well now police have their suspects in an arson fire that destroyed the birthplace of the woman who inspired that nursery rhyme. The Aug. 12 fire in Sterling, Mass., destroyed the 1908 birthplace of Mary Elizabeth Sawyer. She was a schoolgirl who would take her lamb to school, inspiring the rhyme.

The authorship of the nursery rhyme apparently is in question. But police say they have little doubt that the two men in custody are responsible for the fire and are facing charges in a series of fires in central and western Massachusetts.

To read more about the history of "Mary Had a Little Lamb," and more about this crime, then go here.

-- Lance Murray

Burgle and burn attempt doesn't succeed

Fire investigators in Euless say that burglars tried to cover their attempt to crack a safe in the Sheet Metal Workers building on South Industrial Boulevard by torching the place. They didn't succeed, but some offices were damaged.

-- Lance Murray

Authorities suspect a 'fire bug' is afoot

Firefighters were leaving the first of three early-morning east-side vehicle fires when they were dispatched to the second one, just a couple blocks away. In the end, one car had rear-quarter scorching damage, but a van and a pickup were gutted. The fires' proximity in time and location prompted first-responding firefighters to call the arson investigators. Said one official: "It sounds like a fire bug."

-- Bill Miller