Alleged arsonist arrested

The 19-year-old suspect was not a tenant at the apartment building, but the common rest room was easily accessible.

A suspect has been arrested for arson a day after a fire severely damaged the third floor of a Cape Girardeau apartment building and killed an occupant's dog.

Cape Girardeau fire marshal Mike Morgan said the unidentified suspect confessed to starting the fire. The 19-year-old man was evaluated by the Community Counseling Center and will be sent to a mental health facility for a 96-hour evaluation.

Patrolman Jason Selzer of the Cape Girardeau Police Department said the suspect did not live in the building.

When firefighters arrived at Huggins' Apartments at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, smoke was coming from the windows. All the human residents got out of the building safely. Firefighters also rescued two cats and a dog, but another dog died from smoke inhalation.

Morgan said the fire started in a small laundry chute that was converted to a linen closet in the second-floor bathroom. It was in a common rest room that all the second-floor tenants shared.

"Everyone there had accessibility to it," Morgan said.

Morgan said he was told the front door to the apartment building is open during the day.

He said authorities have a general idea about why the fire was started, but he said he could not confirm anything until after he has seen the final report.

The 2-year-old dog that died belonged to Mary and Rodney Mansfield. She and her neighbors were trying to pick up the pieces of her life Thursday.

The Mansfields moved into apartment No. 7 just two weeks ago. Fighting back tears, she talked about her beloved dog.

"He sat in the window and laid on the back of the couch. He thought he was a cat."

She is angry about the arson.

"They caused me to lose all my stuff. They caused my son to lose $1,000 to $1,500 of NASCAR stuff that he can't get back. We have nothing."

Clint B. Roderick was moving out of the building at 401 S. Pacific St. before the fire happened and hoped to be all moved out this weekend. Instead it is going to take a lot longer. He can't even get back into his apartment.

Mansfield met with Red Cross director of emergency services Kristi Thurman Thursday morning at the Salvation Army so she would not have to go to the Red Cross office.

"We put her up last night, and we can offer assistance through helping them with finding a new place and helping with that rent," Thurman said. "We can also help with clothes and shoes. We've got different people that help around town. We will try to get them on their feet."