Arson or Accident?
- Thread starter James Cramerica
- Start date
Sig Hansen
Well-known member
Insane
cabezadecaballo
Well-known member
If I was their insurance adjuster, I would be thinking arson. On the surface anyway.
I see a spiral stair tower constructed in a more expensive and maintenance-intensive fashion; a flat-roofed, crenelated tower, and not roofed as stick-framed in a segmented conical fashion and shingled. That makes me think "ego". So J.R., the builder, builds a castle and titles it in Maria's name only, and not his own ? Isn't he proud of his work and his home? The contradiction seems shady. I don't trust J.R. before the fire.
How did the firemen end up a mile away ? A field fire, after a rain/snow/deep freeze/thaw cycle 2 days before ? Good thing the dogs were out.
So, say you build a massive home as a builder, and shift the invoices for a bunch of material and labor costs from it's construction on to your paid projects. This reduces taxable profit on those jobs, and you get a percentage of your home free. Win/win for home and business. Then insure the home at a much higher value than what is actually spent on it, replacement cost by hired contractor, and it's like printing money after a total loss. Win again. Maybe even a Zippo retirement plan ? She's 44. Maybe J.R.'s older, and ready to kick back and relax?
Or maybe, right after the coldest 2 day span since the home's construction, some pipes froze and burst, damaging a large portion of the house. Ready to downsize anyway ? Does J.R. have a nice big house somewhere nearby, built on speculation and sitting vacant, as a liability ? Ready for a nice big insurance check to buy some furniture ?
Hypothetically.
I see a spiral stair tower constructed in a more expensive and maintenance-intensive fashion; a flat-roofed, crenelated tower, and not roofed as stick-framed in a segmented conical fashion and shingled. That makes me think "ego". So J.R., the builder, builds a castle and titles it in Maria's name only, and not his own ? Isn't he proud of his work and his home? The contradiction seems shady. I don't trust J.R. before the fire.
How did the firemen end up a mile away ? A field fire, after a rain/snow/deep freeze/thaw cycle 2 days before ? Good thing the dogs were out.
So, say you build a massive home as a builder, and shift the invoices for a bunch of material and labor costs from it's construction on to your paid projects. This reduces taxable profit on those jobs, and you get a percentage of your home free. Win/win for home and business. Then insure the home at a much higher value than what is actually spent on it, replacement cost by hired contractor, and it's like printing money after a total loss. Win again. Maybe even a Zippo retirement plan ? She's 44. Maybe J.R.'s older, and ready to kick back and relax?
Or maybe, right after the coldest 2 day span since the home's construction, some pipes froze and burst, damaging a large portion of the house. Ready to downsize anyway ? Does J.R. have a nice big house somewhere nearby, built on speculation and sitting vacant, as a liability ? Ready for a nice big insurance check to buy some furniture ?
Hypothetically.
Last edited:
PantherVOR
Well-known member
Arson was my first thought........... good thing everyone in the family including the dogs were out of the house.
PantherVOR
Well-known member
I have to ask, why would anyone want a house that size?
ronnie mund
Well-known member
Why would you not? That would be awesome.
wildcatharrison
Cooling Off
Yep
You nailed it.
OhioBobcatFan06
Well-known member
neo>swo
Sig Hansen
Well-known member
Being reported that not even the family DOGS were inside the house, which seems extremely fishy to me. Get the family and pets out then light the place up. If I were the Fire Marshall I'd be looking into whether this guy bought a storage locker somewhere to store their essential belongings.
ohiopup
Well-known member
His insurance underwriter will do that and report any findings to the proper
authorities. They'll follow him around for months and stake out every self
storge place within a 75 mile circle, not to mention his place of business.
:>---
cabezadecaballo
Well-known member
My favorite local arson story is the one where investigators found the register, safe, game/vending machines and top shelf empty in the smoldering remnants of a Sunday morning tavern fire. DUH !
tom_hsfootball_fan
Well-known member
I think you mean investigator or adjuster, not underwriter. Some of the things the arson guys look for are evidence of accelerants (using dogs or physical evidence), whether personal items such as clothes, pictures or jewelry were in the house, financial or marriage problems, outstanding debts and due dates, etc. One guy in Arizona got caught because there was evidence of over 500 phone books stacked on his stairs, and the determination that the fire started at the base of the stairs. (The guy killed himself in the courtroom right after the guilty verdict was read.) Things do not vaporize in a fire... there's always plenty of evidence around.
Body Heat (1981):
[Ned is getting the arson set-up from Teddy]
Teddy Lewis: I got a serious question for you: What the **** are you doing? This is not **** for you to be messin' with. Are you ready to hear something? I want you to see if this sounds familiar: any time you try a decent crime, you got fifty ways you're gonna **** up. If you think of twenty-five of them, then you're a genius... and you ain't no genius. You remember who told me that?
[Ned nods, "yes"]
That could be either that they empty out those things on Saturday night (would not be unusual) or they were robbed and the thieves set the fire.