INDIAN HEAD, Md. (AP) -- The lawn outside 5751 Cabinwood Court was deep green and freshly trimmed. Two weeping cherry tree saplings were planted out front, and the black mail box near the street awaited its first delivery.

But that scene of suburban tranquility ended at the front yard.

The roof of the house was gone, eaten by flames that consumed wooden beams, metal ducts and plywood walls as they burned. A garage door was bent and blistered by the heat. The front door lay in the bushes. A bay window was a blackened hole revealing the charred remains of a staircase.

Cabinwood Court and two nearby cul-de-sacs are littered with torched homes from 20 separate fires set Monday by arsonists in the upscale Charles County development. Most of the houses were under construction, but some, like number 5751, were nearly ready for families to move in.

``It's nuts,'' said Capt. Joe Montminy of the Charles County Sheriff's department, who worked all week on the investigation. ``It looks like a movie set. It's amazing how much damage was done.''

Authorities, including investigators with the State Fire Marshal's office, the FBI and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives say they don't know who set the fires or why. All motives are under consideration, including the possibility that racism or environmental terrorism was to blame.

Environmental groups had tried to block the Hunters Brooke development, saying it would damage an ecologically sensitive magnolia bog nearby. And many of the residents who planned to move in were black, causing speculation it was a hate crime. However, no group or individual has claimed responsibility.

Twenty-six homes were damaged in the fires that investigators believe were set by at least two people working in the early morning. Some were burned to the foundations, while others were singed by exposure to nearby houses set aflame.

Arsonists tried and failed to set 10 additional fires, and investigators recovered devices and accelerant from those houses. Those materials and other evidence collected from the scene were sent to an ATF lab for forensic tests.

Police blocked off the neighborhood Friday morning as a few anxious home owners, utility workers checking electrical wires and contractors wondering if work could start again trickled back to the scene.

The smell of burned wood lingered, even after steady rain that fell over the past four days. Latex gloves used by investigators lay discarded in the red mud. Bright orange numbers were spray painted on each house for identification.

Across from the partially damaged building at 5751 Cabinwood, a few piles of bricks were heaped against a scorched foundation - all that was left of another home. Twisted metal sat in a heap off to one side.

Farther down the block, the fire that burned the home on lot 37 to its concrete base whipped up an inferno at the intersection of Cabinwood and Deer Point Court. The intense heat peeled vinyl siding on a house 50 feet across the street, leaving it fluttering like feathers.

On the other corner, Derrick Potts' house stood virtually untouched. Potts, his girlfriend and three children were the only people living on the block when the fires broke out. They escaped unharmed as the flames grew.

Potts and Terri Rookard had moved in only four days before the fires, and Friday they returned for the first time to see if their house was damaged.

``Everything was fine, everything was intact. Not one scratch,'' said Potts, a District of Columbia police officer. ``I was so relieved.''

Related:

• Investigators Wrap Up Maryland Arson Scene, Search For Tips
• Investigators: Maryland Development Torched by More Than One Arsonist
• No Motive Determined at Torched Maryland Development
• Maryland Commissioners Increase Fire Reward To $82,000
• 26 Homes Burned, 12 Total Loses, in Maryland Housing Development Fire
• Eco-Terrorism Suspected In Arson Fires at Maryland Housing Development
• Maryland Fire Guts 12 Expensive, Unoccupied Homes
• Fire Engulfs Maryland Homes in Development Criticized by Environmentalists