Man starts fire for revenge, Cape police say

Police said a Cape Girardeau man admitted to lighting a fire in an apartment building to get revenge, although police do not know the specifics of the target of the man’s vengeance.

Cape Girardeau police arrested Sean Louis Baker, 22, on Wednesday. The Cape Girardeau County prosecuting attorney’s office charged him with first-degree arson. First-degree arson is a Class B felony; if convicted, Baker would face a minimum prison sentence of five years. Baker’s bond was set at $50,000, cash or surety.

Cape Girardeau officers met with the owner of the apartments at 99 S. Park Ave. about 10:30 a.m., and he showed them surveillance video, according to a probable-cause statement filed by officer Orrin Hawkins.

In the video, Baker was visible on the stairs leading up to apartments B and C. Once he left, smoke began to appear in camera view, Hawkins wrote. The fire burned the upstairs banister and melted some of the vinyl affixed to the roof, Hawkins wrote. People were inside the apartment complex when Baker started the fire, according to the statement.

Baker was found at 61 N. Clark Ave. and had a jacket in his vehicle he wore on the surveillance video, Hawkins wrote.

Baker confessed to detectives Jeff Bonham and Joe Thomas, according to the statement.

bkleine@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3644

Pertinent address:

99 S. Park Ave., Cape Girardeau, Mo.