A Boone County man has been arrested for allegedly attempting to burn down a trailer.
According to the probable cause affidavit, on June 8, Boone County Deputies dispatched to a residential structure fire with persons possibly trapped inside.
Once deputies arrived on scene, it was noted the fire appeared to be vented through the front double window just to the right of the front door. The fire also appeared to have been out with small flames and a large amount of smoke coming from inside. Investigators made contact with the property owner who stated she owned the residence but her son, identified as 44-year-old Michael Collins had been living there, and two days prior she had an argument with Collins and told him to leave.
The owner of the residence stated on the morning of June 8 at approximately 5:05 she woke up thirsty and went to the kitchen of the residence in which she was staying and noticed a red glow outside and ran over to attempt to put the fire out.
When speaking with authorities, the owner stated she was fighting with Collins and they had an argument about the amount of traffic going in and out of the house. The owner then stated Collins was supposed to move out, but has not.
On June 15, authorities made contact with the ex-wife of Collins who stated she had been receiving messages from Collins on Facebook. In one of the messages Collins allegedly stated “Well, set the double wide on fire, didn’t have enough gas to burn it to the ground cops after me for a week for arson like I have said many times, I only get caught when I want…”
On July 17, investigators spoke with Collins at the Boone County Sheriff’s Department. He was already in the detention center for a failure to appear arrest, so investigators interviewed him about the trailer incident.
Collins stated he had been staying wherever he can and did live in the trailer at one time, but has not lived there in three years. Collins stated he did not know anything about the fire and was staying with a friend when it occurred.
After a search warrant was granted for access to Collins’ Facebook account, authorities made note of the message Collins sent to his ex-wife admitting he burned the trailer.
Collins is currently being held in the Boone County Detention Center on a felony count of arson.
Bond is set at $75,000.
The trailer is estimated to be a total loss.
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