Agencies arrested 30-year-old Jacobe Ferguson in connection with a 2018 San Marcos apartment fire, which took the lives of five people.
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Catherine Wilson, mySanAntonio.com
It’s been five years since someone intentionally started a fire at a San Marcos apartment complex, killing five young people and injuring several others. After years of searching for the person responsible, a new investigation task force arrested a 30-year-old man on Wednesday, July 5, who was a Texas State University student and former resident of the complex, spokespersons for local and federal investigators announced at a news conference Thursday, July 6.
Jacobe De Leon O Shea Ferguson was arrested and charged for setting the fatal fire at the Iconic Village Apartments, located near Texas State University, on July 20, 2018. The fire, which occurred just before 4:30 a.m., engulfed Building 500 in flames, leaving several people trapped.
The five people who perished in the blaze were: 20-year-old Dru Estes from San Antonio; 21-year-old Belinda Moats of Big Wells; 21-year-old David Angel Ortiz of Pasadena; 23-year-old James Phillip Miranda of Mount Pleasant; and 19-year-old Haley Michele Frizzell from San Angelo, according to a San Marcos news release.
Many others were injured, including Zachary Sutterfield, who received burns on nearly 70% of his body and sustained a severe brain injury when he jumped from a second-story balcony to escape the blaze, according to the San Antonio Express News.
Parents and loved ones waited years to see an arrest made, and just before the fifth anniversary of the fire they got one. Haley's father, Brian Frizzell, was one such parent waiting for the day an arrest warrant would be issued, which he said occurred on Dru Estes' birthday.
Speaking at Thursday's news conference, he recounted the harrowing hours after he was made aware of the fire.
"It was a terrible experience for five other families and countless others whose children were injured. Driving around Hays County, Travis County, Comal County — going to every emergency room and going to every hospital begging for Jane Doe to be your daughter is an absolutely horrendous experience," Frizzell said. "I can't imagine what everybody else was going through, but I know what we went through and we'd never wish that on any parent or anybody for any reason in the world. Nobody deserves that. The five young people who died and all the people who were injured on that day certainly didn't deserve to have their lives changed forever."
In the aftermath of the fire, the San Marcos Fire Marshal's Office enlisted the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to help with the investigation. On November 30, 2018, investigators determined that the fire was started intentionally and the deaths were ruled as homicides. After several years of investigation and few leads, a task force was formed, officials said during the news conference.
"We've never given up on this case. We have been discouraged. We have suffered setbacks, but never given up. In late 2022, it became clear that we needed a new perspective and a fresh set of eyes on the case," San Marcos Fire Marshal Jonathan Henderson told attendees.
The task force met in October 2022 and over the next few months they combed through old evidence, including witness interviews, some of whom were interviewed again. The process paid off, leading to Ferguson’s arrest, Henderson said.
Ferguson was arrested in Austin while traveling between his work and home, and he was booked into the Hays County Jail on first degree felony charges of arson causing serious bodily injury or death. No other arrests are expected to be made, but the case will remain open while the task force works with the Hays County District Attorney's Office, officials said.
"This arrest is one step among many to follow towards the application of justice for the victims of the Iconic Village fire," Henderson said.