Overview
- Jacob Bogatin, 78, was arrested and charged with felony murder and burning an occupied dwelling after investigators concluded the Oct. 24 fire was intentionally set.
- The three-alarm blaze in the 20000 block of Riptide Square spread across multiple townhomes, forced exterior firefighting, displaced eight residents, and injured one firefighter.
- The victim was identified by the medical examiner as 36-year-old Madelaine Samantha Akers, a resident of one of the affected homes.
- Newly filed court documents say Bogatin was captured on camera behind the townhomes at the time of the fire, and that his car contained an ignitable liquid and a grill lighter.
- The records also note a next-day insurance claim for more than double the amount owed on Bogatin’s foreclosed end unit next door to Akers’ home, and he remains jailed with a preliminary hearing set for Jan. 27.