File photo of Texas Governor's Mansion after the fire
AUSTIN, TEXAS -- It's been almost three years since the Texas Governor's Mansion caught fire due to the acts of an arsonist. Now the Texas Rangers have developed information about a man they consider to be a person of interest relating to the arson.
In October 2009, the Department of Public Safety assumed responsibility for the investigation and took custody of the evidence, which included all collected physical evidence and thousands of hours of video surveillance tapes. Since that time the Texas Ranger-led DPS task force has spent a significant amount of time and manpower to review the surveillance video.
They enhanced the video footage of the arson suspect to the greatest extent possible with the assistance of experts from the FBI. A forensic sketch of the suspect taken from the video has been compare with potential suspects. Thousands of hours and thousands of frames of video from 11 separate cameras that had not been previously looked at has now been reviewed.
During the forensic review of the video, the investigative team found a video segment of a suspicious vehicle. The video revealed a white Jeep Cherokee, whose occupants were observed taking photos of the governor's mansion at approximately 2 a.m. On June 4, 2008, which was four days before the arson.
Through the process of elimination investigators were able to locate the specific vehicle seen in the video and its owner. The owner of the Cherokee admitted to driving the vehicle while the photos of the mansion were being taken. The driver, is now considered a person of interest, and also revealed to investigators the identities of two people who were in the Jeep with him that night.
The two passengers were also interviewed and are now also considered persons of interest. One passenger at first denied being in the vehicle, but later admitted to being there and taking photos after failing a polygraph test. However, all three people have denied involvement in the arson of the mansion.
At least one of the persons of interest has been placed in the downtown area the morning of the mansion fire.
Investigators were able to establish a direct link from the persons of interest to an Austin-based anarchist group that was linked to a planned attack on the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis in September 2008, which involved Molotov cocktails.
To see additional videos, sketches, and photos click here.
A $50,000 cash reward is being offered for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the individual(s) responsible for the fire.
