UPDATE: On May 31, 2018 Colton Christopher Crowder was arrested by BCSO Deputies in Brownwood on the indictment of Arson. Crowder was the second person involved in the Arson case where a mobile home was burned to the ground in November 2017.
Brownwood News – The Early Police Department issued a release early Wednesday morning with an update on an arson investigation that began in November 2017.
According to the release, on November 15, 2017 at approximately 4:20 a.m. the Early Police Department and Early and Brownwood Fire Departments responded to a structure fire in the 200 block of Live Oak Street. The residence, a mobile home, was unoccupied at the time and had no electricity or utilities hooked up. The house was a total loss due to the fire.
The Fire Marshal determined the house fire to have been the result of arson and located the point of origin for the fire near a laundry room area of the house.
Detective Brandon McMillian and other officers continued to follow up on the arson case over the next few months, interviewing witnesses and suspects. Witnesses informed officers that the subjects responsible for the fire had been inside the mobile home, producing methamphetamines in a small makeshift lab. The suspects had also stripped copper wiring from inside the house over a period of time.
The case was presented to the Brown County Grand Jury in April at which time an Indictment was issued for two suspects.
One suspect, identified as Richard Crawford, was arrested on May 27, 2018 in San Saba County on charges of Arson. An indictment was also issued on a second suspect who has not been located at this time.
