when he learned it was his son accused of burning three black churches here to the ground. holden s father is an employee of mine. a fine man. he was shocked and hurt, as any father would be. reporter: the clue that led federal and state investigators to the deputy s son was a red gas can found at the third fire on april 4th. all stations, we have a church on fire. reporter: authorities traced that can to a local walmart, and say that receipts and surveillance video show matthews buying the tools he needed to start the fires. they say surveillance video shows him driving his father s gold pickup truck at each location. at the second fire, here at greater union baptist, he s seen coming back to watch as firefighters risk their lives. we are better than this and this is a reflection of one depraved individual. reporter: on his facebook page, police found that matthews is fan of black metal, a version of heavy metal where the bands are often anti-christian and sometimes neo-na
at this hour and searching for a possible arsonist behind a series of church fires in louisiana. three historically black churches going up in flames in the same parish. the suspicious fires, less than two weeks apart. abc s steve osunsami is on the scene, too, tonight. reporter: federal agents rushed to louisiana. the atf is here tonight with their national response team, and so is the fbi, looking for clues in these burned up pews and steeples, hoping they lead to whoever is responsible. at mt. pleasant baptist church, which burned on thursday, you can still smell the smoke tonight from the police line. i don t understand it. you re at a place of worship that you ve been worshipping for 40 years, and then sunday morning, you don t have it no more, for no reason. reporter: at greater union baptist, 11 miles away, someone burned it to the ground april 2nd. another five miles from there, st. mary baptist church burned on march 26th. today, we found hymn books and bibles that burne