Melrose Park Man Charged With Burning Down Dad's House
MAYWOOD, Ill. (CBS) -- A Melrose Park man stands charged with burning down his father's home, where the suspect himself also lived.
Bond for David Neubauer, 26, was set at $400,000 Wednesday at the Maybrook Courthouse in Maywood, according to the Cook County Sheriff's office.
He is charged with one count of arson for allegedly burning down the house where he and his father lived in the 9700 block of Dickens Avenue earlier this week.
Authorities allege that on Tuesday, Neubauer called his mother and told her he was going to burn down the house. He also asked a family friend to come to the house with him, according to the sheriff's office.
When the friend arrived, Neubauer allegedly told him to step inside the house and take a whiff, and the friend said the interior smelled of gasoline and quickly left. Outside, the friend saw Neubauer holding two Molotov cocktails, which he allegedly threw at the friend's car, but they didn't detonate.
The friend also discovered that Neubauer had left two plastic bottles full of gasoline on the driver's seat of his car, which had leaked. The friend threw the bottles out the window and left the scene, according to the sheriff's office.
Soon afterward, fire engulfed the house and soon left it completely gutted. Neubauer bolted before police and fire crews came to the scene, but police in nearby Franklin Park quickly found him at 25th and Franklin avenues in that near west suburb.
Neubauer admitted to setting his father's house on fire, and trying to blow up the family friend's car, according to the sheriff's office.
The sheriff's office did not specify Neubauer's motive for allegedly committing the acts.
Bond for Neubauer was set at $400,000 Wednesday. He is due back in court on Thursday.
