Police investigate suspicious South Haven house fire
By Erin Guerra Post-Tribune correspondent May 4, 2012 11:42AM
Firefighters work at the scene of a house fire at 744 Juniper in South Haven Thursday afternoon. | Jeffrey D. Nicholls~Sun-Times Media
Maps
Updated: June 6, 2012 8:05AM
SOUTH HAVEN — One of the displaced tenants of a house at 744 Juniper Road is talking to police about who might have been involved in its destruction by fire Thursday afternoon. Two adjacent houses also were damaged by the heat.
Police said the building was known to have electrical and furnace problems before the fire started at about 2:15 p.m., while no one was home. After the fire was out, the Fire Investigation Strike Team, with the help of a canine, determined the fire was suspicious and most likely an arson that started in a back bedroom, according to the police report.
Police noted one of the residents said someone had attempted to set fire to her unoccupied vehicle recently in an incident in Portage.
That woman and her female roommate had just moved into the rented single-story ranch house. The house, assessed in 2011 at $84,800, according to Porter County tax records, is expected to be a total loss. It is owned by Rogness Investment Inc. of Valparaiso.
