Video generates dozens of leads, Lake Villa police still hunting for arsonist who torched home

lfilasreporter@yahoo.com

Lake Villa Police said they are following dozens of leads generated by video of an arsonist torching a house, and leaving five people homeless, that was released to the public.

Chief Ron Roth said detectives have been working more than 12 hours a day to track down the leads after the video appeared at dailyherald.com on March 3 at 1 p.m. to try to find the unidentified arsonist.

“The public’s help, and help from the media, will eventually bring this person in,” Roth said. “I’m confident that we will get to the bottom of what happened and locate this suspect soon.”

The man, who appears to be in his late teens or early 20s, was caught on security camera setting fire to the two-story, single-family house in the 300 block of Woodhill Lane about 7:25 p.m. on March 2.

Roth said the suspect is seen on the video throwing a possible accelerant or gasoline at the side of the home or through a window, then using a road flare to ignite the blaze. The suspect ran from the house toward Monaville Road, Roth said.

No one was in the house when the fire was ignited, and no one was injured, he said. The homeowner, and her four children — a 7-year-old girl and 4-year-old triplet boys — were in Libertyville when the arsonist struck.

They arrived at the house 15 minutes after the fire began, Roth said. The fire destroyed most or all of the family’s belongings and made the dwelling uninhabitable.

Police have added extra patrols to the neighborhood, he said.

Roth also said police have pulled video surveillance from businesses within 1.5 miles around the house near Monaville Road to see if they can determine the arsonist’s direction of escape.

“From the amount of tips we’ve received, it’s apparent people want to know who did this,” he said. “We are going through all the materials and tips in hope something jumps out at us and we bring him in.”