PIKE: Lynch Livestock fire found to be arson; PCSD arrest suspect
PROTECTED CONTENT
If you’re a current subscriber, log in below. If you would like to subscribe, please click the subscribe tab above.
Username and Password Help
Please enter your email and we will send your username and password to you.
By BETH ZUMWALT
Submitted photo
Travis McDonald, 37, Griggsville has been arrested on charges of arson and criminal damage to property more than $100,000.
Griggsville Fire Chief Larry Bradshaw said he had some suspicious thoughts after a Sept. 12 early morning fire destroyed Lynch Livestock at the north edge of Griggsville. His suspicions turned into fact after two more fires at the same location and the arrest of Travis McDonald, 37 of Griggsville was made. McDonald was arrested Thursday, Sept. 15, on charges of arson and criminal damage to property over $100,000.00.
The first fire destroyed a building despite the efforts of the Griggsville Fire Department and at least four other area departments.
The GFD saved an adjacent building, but the main structure was too far gone before the department was notified. Video showed the fire in progress for an hour before it was reported at 3:44 a.m.
‘I thought ‘No, that stuff doesn’t happen around here,’” Bradshaw said.
But, when his department was called back to the scene Sept. 14 at 6:02 a.m. and the building the GFD had worked so hard to protect was on fire. This time there was obvious signs an arsonist was responsible.The suspicions heightened.
The Office of the State Fire Marshall, division of arson, was called.
Then Thursday, Sept. 15, at 4:59 a.m., Pike County Dispatch received a call of a truck tractor semi-trailer that was fully engulfed in flames while parked at Lynch’s Livestock.
Bradshaw,who was first on the scene,discovered two fire scenes.
“The truck was on fire in one spot and in an entirely separate spot, the building was on fire,”he said.
As soon a Bradshaw had received the third call, he instructed dispatch to call the state fire marshall’s office.
“When he got there, there were obvious signs that this was no flare up or accidental fire,” Bradshaw said.
The Pike County Sheriff’s Department and Office of the State Fire Marshal conducted an investigation and executed a court-authorized search warrant Thursday, Sept.15 at a residence located in the 700 block of North Chandler Street, Griggsville, where McDonald was arrested.
During the course of the investigation, it was determined that McDonald was responsible for setting other fires in prior months in the same area.
The incident is under investigation and additional charges are pending.
McDonald is being held in the Pike County Jail with no bond set.
