Texas arsonists mug shots

The arsonists were arrested late last night and this morning in San Antonio and Grand Saline. KLTV will be covering it live at 4:00 pm today. According to Crowley with the ATF, he said, “various techniques led members of a special task force to the men, including DNA evidence and phone tips.”

My questions revolve around if they turned out to be young highschoolers that are either satanists or think they are vampires. One news station said their last names are Jason Borque and Daniel Mcalister. Jason was a student at UT Tyler. If you know these guys feel free to comment below and fill us in. Is he a twilight fan, does he regularly where black trench coats, and other typical ridiculousness.

The ATF has reported that the other arsonists last name is Borque and was arrested in Northern Smith County. They said the sketches are unrelated to the men that were arrested. The sketches were men of interest at the time that could have some kind of link.

These are considered 1st degree felonies and could also be considered aggravated robberies. The ATF said that among some of the evidence they have is DNA evidence.

They may ask the judge to stack sentences. There is only one arrest warrant at this time which is the Dover Baptist Church warrant. They are confident that they will be arrested on other fires. They don’t believe the fire in Temple is related to the East Texas church fires.

According to NBC news one is from Lindale and the other guy is from Van Texas but after more news it appears more like Ben Wheeler Texas. So these guys were right in my backyard the whole time. I kind of suspected they might be from here considering how they were spreading the fires out around this location. They couldn’t resist to go after a couple of the churches in their own towns. If they were trying to throw police off I think it served more as an easy to find trail to their hideout.

Dates and locations of arsons:

• 01-01-2010, 9:02 AM – Little Hope Baptist Church – Canton, TX;
• 01-01-2010, 11:05 AM – Faith Baptist Church – Athens, TX;
• 01-11-2010, 10:40 PM – Grace Community Church, Athens, TX;
• 01-12-2010, 12:09 AM – Lake Athens Baptist Church, Athens, TX;
• 01-16-2010, 6:30 PM – Tyland Baptist Church, Tyler, TX;
• 01-17-2010, 6:33 PM – First Church of Christ Scientist, Tyler, TX;
• 01-20-2010, 7:37 AM – Prairie Creek Fellowship, Lindale, TX;
• 02-04-2010, 5:23 AM – Russell Memorial United Methodist Church, Wills Point, TX;
• 02-08-2010, 8:47 PM – Dover Baptist Church, Tyler, TX;
• 02-08-2010, 9:44 PM – Clear Springs Missionary Baptist Church, Lindale, TX.

In addition to the arsons at the above listed churches, there were attempted break-ins at the following churches:

• 02-07-2010, 12:19 AM, Heritage Baptist Church, Tyler, TX;
• 02-08-2010, 9:19 PM, Clearview Church, Tyler, TX;
• 02-08-2010, 9:39 PM, Pine Brook Baptist Church, Tyler, TX.

According to police scanners potentially 4 churches in the New Harmony Lindale area are victims of arson tonight. 

Sketches of arson suspects

 The church burnings bring the total up to 10 or 11 now in Texas. I live close to Dover Baptist church and drove over there to see for myself. The church was badly burning and there were around 5 – 10 fire trucks and some of the congregation and neighbors. I spoke with one of the members of the church and he told me the church was built in 1865. Clear Springs Missionary Baptist church nearby has also been set on fire by these arsonists.

I pass by this church when I’m driving to Dallas or going to Garden Valley golf club. It is so sad that these arsonists are burning down these old church landmarks.

More than a few have been called historical landmarks and I doubt it is coincidence that they are going after these old churches. It could be that they are picking churches a little off the radar to avoid getting caught or they want to burn down something memorable. Either way it is really too bad they are still doing this and I hope they are caught soon.

I would like to encourage churches to invest in a night time surveillance camera system. They can be installed on a detached shed facing the church building and video people walking or driving in to vandalize the building. These systems do not cost that much especially when comparing installing one of these systems compared to the man hours it would take to sleep in a car every night outside your church building. I have seen more than a couple churches who have people sleeping in their cars outside their churches which definitely will work as well. The camera system just seems like a stealthy way of catching them in the act and preventing further arsons.

The Church Arson Hotline numbers are: 903-939-6169 or 903-939-6172 and don’t forget there is a $25,000 reward for information leading to their arrest. If you don’t want the money call me so I can collect the money

CBS19 reported on Thursday that another church has been burned down by arsonists this time in Wills Point. An ATF agent mentioned what is on everybody’s mind right now, that we need to catch these guys before any more churches are burned down.

I really want to encourage all Tyler and East Texas churches to install some outside surveilance cameras. This type of thing would really be worth the investment and can help catch criminal activity of any kind.

Below is a snip of what CBS19 reported:

“We really have to catch this guy before he burns more churches,” he said.

Alexander, who had been at home Thursday morning celebrating his birthday before he was called out to the fire, said the ATF’s National Response Team was en route to Wills Point to begin processing the fire scene — in the sanctuary of the Russell Memorial United Methodist Church — for clues.”

My friend Caleb tweeted about the 11th church fire in the Tyler, Fort Worth, Temple triangle was burned down January 30th 2010. The criminals seem to be spreading this crime out to make it harder for them to be caught.

Considering that this happened on the weekend makes me think these people needed a weekend to take the time to drive to the Fort Worth area and plan an arson like this. Since the fires started in Athens this year and last year there was one in Corsicana it makes me wonder if these people are from that area.