SAN MARCOS, Texas — Arrest documents from the San Marcos Fire Marshal's Office reveal new information about the 2018 arson that killed five people at the Iconic Village Apartments.
The document charging Jacobe Ferguson with arson resulting in bodily injury or death reveals for the first time that the fire started on a mattress in a breezeway, and that the mattress was a key piece in connecting the suspect to the crime. The documents also provide the first glimpse at a motive.
According to the documents, on July 20, 2018, the San Marcos Fire Department, San Marcos Police Department and San Marcos Hays County EMS received a call about a fire at the Iconic Village Apartments, Building 500, located at 222 Ramsey St.
When they arrived, crews found multiple people with a range of injuries and five people dead. The victims were identified as Belinda Moats, Haley Frizzell, James Miranda, David Ortiz and Dru Estes.
Several days later, on July 24, 2018, investigators interviewed a resident who told them "there was a mattress located in a breezeway on the first floor." The person also stated that Jacobe Ferguson talked to him about the mattress and the "flammability" of it.
When investigators interviewed Ferguson, he denied any knowledge of the mattress. They then pressed him about the "mattress with his name on it," and Ferguson told investigators that he did not have anything to do with it.
But when investigators interviewed another witness, she told them she left the mattress for Ferguson when she moved out and put his name on it. Ferguson then admitted to investigators on July 25, 2018, that he "lied about knowing about the mattress."
In December 2018, investigators determined the cause of the fire was "human intervention by the application of a competent ignition source to available combustible material." Ferguson's arrest documents identify the combustible material as the mattress in the breezeway.
In October 2022, the case was picked back up and was reviewed by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearm and Explosives (ATF), San Marcos Police Department and the Texas Rangers.
Investigators started interviewing witnesses again about the fire. In February 2023, one resident – who sustained serious bodily injury in the fire – spoke with investigators, telling them she had a relationship with Ferguson. She told investigators that "she broke off the relationship with Ferguson because Ferguson was too emotional."
Investigators also re-interviewed the resident who told them in 2018 that he and Ferguson had talked about the flammability of the mattress. In the February 2023 interview, that witness told investigators that Ferguson contacted him the night of the fire in 2018 and said Ferguson was "intoxicated." The witness said Ferguson told him the building was on fire.
The witness told investigators he and Ferguson talked again the day after the fire and "discussed possible ways the fire started" and that "Ferguson talked about the flammability of a mattress and that a 'stray spark or someone intentionally setting fire to this mattress' could have been the cause of the fire," according to the arrest documents.
Investigators spoke to that witness again in June 2023, and he told investigators Ferguson "didn't tell me he did it – he told me why he did it," according to the documents. The witness said Ferguson was frustrated at being rejected by the woman he was pursuing a relationship with and frustrated about having to get rid of the mattress left behind in the breezeway.
According to the documents, the witness admitted to not providing information about Ferguson starting the fire in earlier interviews, but said several times that Ferguson told him he set the mattress on fire.
Investigators also re-interviewed the witness who left the mattress for Ferguson when she moved out. She told investigators Ferguson had called her in 2018 and asked her to lie to investigators and not say anything about the mattress.
She also told them she had contacted Ferguson before her most recent interview in June 2023. She told investigators Ferguson told her to claim she did not remember anything because it had been five years since the fire occurred.