Suspicious fatal fire in San Jacinto County may be arson, authorities say

A fire that killed two people and severely injured a third person in the Waterwood community near Point Blank and Oakhurst in north San Jacinto County is now being investigated as an arson. The house fire was at a two-story home on the 23000 block of Piney Point Road on June 10.

Authorities were alerted to the fire in the early morning hours by witnesses, who reportedly told San Jacinto County sheriff’s deputies they saw a silver Ford F-150 fleeing the scene at the time the fire started.

Deputies began looking for the vehicle and located it stopped along the 9000 block of US 190 in Point Blank. A black male with burns over most of his body was found lying in the backseat of the vehicle, which was missing its license plates, according to Lt. Charles Dougherty, a spokesperson for the sheriff’s office.

“The man asked the deputies if the other two made it out. That’s when we realized that we might have other fire victims,” Dougherty said.

Firefighters, meanwhile, were fighting the blaze at the house. When the fire was extinguished, the bodies of two other black males were found inside the charred rubble.

In recent weeks, there has been a lot of controversy around the house that burned. The property owner in May made a claim that someone had painted a racial slur on his home. Dougherty said the property owner filed a report about the incident.

During that investigation, investigators sought videos from the home’s surveillance cameras, Dougherty said, but the cameras allegedly were malfunctioning during that specific time frame, so no videos are available.

The three males believed to have set the home ablaze were from the Houston area. Bodies of the two decedents were taken to Beaumont for autopsy. DNA testing is being used for positive identification.

Authorities in San Jacinto County have handed over the investigation to state authorities. The State Fire Marshal’s office is investigating the cause of the fire while the Office of Inspector General is investigating the hate crime allegations made by the property owner.