An Izard County duo has been arrested after trying to set her ex-boyfriend’s house on fire. The incident Saturday night in Sage sent 30-year-old Courtney Denise Keathley and 27-year-old Luke Asher Vest, both of Melbourne, to the Izard County Detention Center on four charges each, three of them felonies.
According to the probable cause affidavit from the Izard County Sheriff’s Office, a neighbor noticed Keathley and Vest, along with a five-year-old girl leaving the victim’s house. When he confronted them, they “threw” the girl into the back seat without buckling her, backed into a vehicle in the driveway and fled the scene.
When deputies arrived, they discovered damage to numerous items in the home; broken glass; cheese puffs littering the floor; lighter fluid covering the coffee table, areas of the floor and the couch; and a partially empty bottle of charcoal lighter fluid on the coffee table.
The victim told one of the deputies on the phone before arriving Keathley had called him and threatened to burn down his house.
While investigators were in the house, Keathley’s vehicle drove by at a high rate of speed. The investigators pursued it to the end of the road and arrested Vest who said he had dropped off Keathley and the girl at another location.
Law enforcement went back to the victim’s house and concluded their investigation there and learned Keathley and the girl were at the house where they had arrested Vest. They returned there and found them hiding under a bed.
During questioning, the girl said they had hidden in a chicken coop and in high grass and Keathley told her to be quiet because they were playing hide and seek.
Keathley and Vest are each facing felony charges of criminal attempt to commit arson, residential burglary and first degree criminal mischief along with a misdemeanor count of endangering the welfare of a minor. They are each being held on bonds totaling $50,000. Keathley is also being held on a probation violation.
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