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Investigators have person of interest in Thursday fire in Cairo

By M.D. Kittle ~ Southeast Missourian

Fire destroyed a house Thursday, Jan. 13, 2011 at Washington Avenue
and 24th Street in Cairo, Ill. (Fred Lynch) [Order this photo]

CAIRO, Ill. -- Investigators say they have a person of interest in an early Thursday morning fire in Cairo that displaced a family.

Louis Pukelis, spokesman for the Illinois State Fire Marshal's Office, the investigating agency, said the blaze at the two-story structure at Washington Avenue and 24th Street is being treated as suspicious. He said the fire remains under investigation and that he could not provide more information.

No one was injured in the blaze, reported around 1 a.m. Thursday; the family living at the home was able to make it out, officials said.

Meanwhile, three of four men arrested following an explosive fire Monday in the 800 block of Cairo's Commercial Street have been released from custody, according to Cairo police chief Gary Hankins.

The men appeared in court Thursday and were then released, Hankins said, but he wasn't sure if charges have been "completely dropped."

Police initially arrested the three men and another on charges of theft and burglary. The fire started, Hankins said, when the four men were stealing things from the vacant building. That fire has been ruled accidental.

"They weren't supposed to be in that building, but they didn't mean to catch it on fire," Hankins said.

The Commercial Street property, which housed an old clothing and footwear manufacturing company, has been vacant at least 20 years.

Cairo has been the scene of a slew of fires over the past few years, many of them arsons mainly occurring at the numerous vacant homes and commercial structures dotting the city.

Hankins said he couldn't guess how many arsons or suspicious fires Cairo has recorded in recent years.

"Arson is one of the hardest crimes to prove," he said. "A lot of physical evidence gets burned up, and there are not a lot of eyewitnesses."

Many of Cairo's fires of late, the chief said, have been accidental.

"Just someone not thinking very smart," he said. "We had one guy who was extremely intoxicated and he was cooking and it caused a fire on the stove. We have a lot involving space heaters.

"These things tend to happen more in wintertime."

From the Southern Illinoisan...

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Charges in alleged theft dropped

By Stephen Rickerl, The Southern

Three of the men arrested on alleged burglary and theft in connection to Monday's fire in a vacant Cairo building have been released from Tri-County Detention Center in Ullin.

Alexander County State's Attorney Jeffrey Farris said Allen K. Woolard, Bobby E. Woodworth and Jeremy L. Connor, all of Christopher, were released from custody without ever being charged. A fourth man arrested, William D. "Billy" Frey, is still being held on charges of burglary and theft. His bond has been set at $75,000, Farris said.

Farris said the incident is still being investigated.

Woodworth said the arrest was a misunderstanding and he, Woolard and Connor were hired to salvage material from the vacant building when it caught fire. Woodworth said he was arrested on charges of burglary and theft and held in jail for two days before being released. He said upon being released he was told by the Alexander County Sheriff he was clear of charges.