April 10--Four people, including two Frederick County women, are charged with arson and other offenses in Washington County in connection with a series of suspicious fires that resulted in about $200,000 in damage.
Sarah Camille Mathews, 19, of the 5800 block of Morland Drive in Adamstown, and Olivia Marie Hannah, 20, of the 5700 block of Hurdle Hill Court in Frederick, are charged with one count each of second-degree malicious burning and conspiracy to commit second-degree arson.
Tyler William Murray, 20, of the 1600 block of Coney Court in Williamsport, is charged with six counts of second-degree arson and one count of first-degree malicious burning.
Morgan William Nield, 20, of the 15000 block of Spade Road in Hagerstown, is charged with one count each of conspiracy to commit second-degree arson and attempted arson.
Two trash containers were set on fire March 17 in the 10600 block of Connor Road in Williamsport, according to a news release from the Maryland State Fire Marshal's Office, prompting the investigation. The four are considered suspects in 40 suspicious fires since then in Washington and Frederick counties.
The fires were in trash containers, mulch, mailboxes, hay bales, garages, several vehicles and two barns, including one near Boonsboro that burned to the ground.
The four are suspected in eight Frederick County fires set in several trash containers, the front porch of a vacant house, a couch left by the side of the road and a barn in the Middletown area, which was not seriously damaged, according to Division of Fire and Rescue Services spokesman Mike Dmuchowski.
No charges have been filed in Frederick County.
Investigators believe the initial motive was boredom, but that Murray -- who Deputy State Fire Marshal Bruce Bouch said appears to have been the group's ringleader -- developed a vendetta against a deputy fire marshal.
Murray is believed to have stenciled messages on two vehicles that were burned, Bouch said. A burned car was stenciled with the name of Deputy State Fire Marshal Edward Ernst and "catch me if you can," and a work truck was stenciled with the targets of the fires followed by question marks.
Evidence from the car fires helped identify Murray as a suspect, Bouch said.
"They were able to put things together, and it led to Tyler and then subsequently to the other three."
Murray is being held at the Washington County Detention Center in lieu of $200,000 bail. Nield is being held in lieu of $25,000, and Mathews and Hannah were released after each posted $25,000 bail.
Copyright 2013 - The Frederick News-Post, Md.
