Well, the local news continues to get a bit more disturbing.
Investigators search for clues in luxury home fires
By ELIZABETH M. GILLESPIE
Associated Press Writer
Federal investigators said Tuesday they had uncovered no clear leads on how arsonists lit the fires that destroyed three luxury homes and damaged two others in a suburb outside Seattle.
The only definitive clue was a spray-painted sheet found at the scene of the Monday's pre-dawn fires bearing the initials of the Earth Liberation Front, Kelvin Crenshaw, special agent in charge of the Seattle office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, told a news conference near the crime scene north of Woodinville, about 15 miles northeast of Seattle.
ELF is a loose collection of radical environmentalists that has claimed responsibility for dozens of attacks since the 1990s.
"The only thing that is consistent to this point with what we know as an ELF fire is the banner," Crenshaw said, adding that it had been sent to an FBI lab for testing.
The banner mocked the claims made by the homes' builders that the 4,000-plus-square-foot houses were environmentally friendly. It read: "Built Green? Nope black. McMansions and RCDs r not green," a reference to rural cluster developments.
An alleged ELF activist is on trial in Tacoma for the 2001 firebombing of the University of Washington's Center for Urban Horticulture.
The FBI has no evidence linking the first to the trial of Briana Waters, a 32-year-old violin teacher from Oakland, Calif., who is accused of serving as a lookout while her friends planted the firebomb.
A federal jury resumed deliberations in the Waters case Tuesday. She could face at least 35 years if convicted.
The Snohomish County sheriff's office estimated that the fires did $7 million in damage to the "Street of Dreams," a row of unoccupied, furnished luxury model homes where tens of thousands of visitors last summer eyed the latest in high-end housing, interior design and landscaping. The homes were between 4,200 and 4,750 square feet, and on sale at prices up to nearly $2 million.
Crenshaw said investigators had found no evidence that incendiary devices were used to set the fires, contrary to a report from a local fire chief the day before.
"There were no devices recovered," Crenshaw said, noting that investigators had yet to go into two homes that were spared.
"It would appear the motive and possibly the way these fires were set were with available combustibles" such as paper or wood, he said.
FYI - I am Leaving Friday.....
By ELIZABETH M. GILLESPIE
Associated Press Writer
Federal investigators said Tuesday they had uncovered no clear leads on how arsonists lit the fires that destroyed three luxury homes and damaged two others in a suburb outside Seattle.
The only definitive clue was a spray-painted sheet found at the scene of the Monday's pre-dawn fires bearing the initials of the Earth Liberation Front, Kelvin Crenshaw, special agent in charge of the Seattle office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, told a news conference near the crime scene north of Woodinville, about 15 miles northeast of Seattle.
ELF is a loose collection of radical environmentalists that has claimed responsibility for dozens of attacks since the 1990s.
"The only thing that is consistent to this point with what we know as an ELF fire is the banner," Crenshaw said, adding that it had been sent to an FBI lab for testing.
The banner mocked the claims made by the homes' builders that the 4,000-plus-square-foot houses were environmentally friendly. It read: "Built Green? Nope black. McMansions and RCDs r not green," a reference to rural cluster developments.
An alleged ELF activist is on trial in Tacoma for the 2001 firebombing of the University of Washington's Center for Urban Horticulture.
The FBI has no evidence linking the first to the trial of Briana Waters, a 32-year-old violin teacher from Oakland, Calif., who is accused of serving as a lookout while her friends planted the firebomb.
A federal jury resumed deliberations in the Waters case Tuesday. She could face at least 35 years if convicted.
The Snohomish County sheriff's office estimated that the fires did $7 million in damage to the "Street of Dreams," a row of unoccupied, furnished luxury model homes where tens of thousands of visitors last summer eyed the latest in high-end housing, interior design and landscaping. The homes were between 4,200 and 4,750 square feet, and on sale at prices up to nearly $2 million.
Crenshaw said investigators had found no evidence that incendiary devices were used to set the fires, contrary to a report from a local fire chief the day before.
"There were no devices recovered," Crenshaw said, noting that investigators had yet to go into two homes that were spared.
"It would appear the motive and possibly the way these fires were set were with available combustibles" such as paper or wood, he said.
FYI - I am Leaving Friday.....
posted by soldierdeb at 4:10 PM
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