MURRAY — "Hey neighbor, there's going to be a fire tonight!"
That's what Forrest Xavier Wilkinson is accused of saying — allegedly while laughing — shortly before a large fire caused heavy damage to an apartment complex in Murray.
Wilkinson, 27, was charged Friday in 3rd District Court with aggravated arson, a first-degree felony, in the large fire that ripped through the Stillwater Apartments, at 5560 S. Vine Street, on July 1.
When police arrived at the scene, "Wilkinson spontaneously uttered that he needed to be upfront with the officers and admitted he lit his apartment on fire," the charges state. He allegedly said he believed he was being followed by police, so he doused his apartment with lighter fluid and then lit a piece of paper on fire.