Suspect Wanted to Burn Something, Affidavit Alleges

Robert Bruce Williams, the cancer-stricken man under investigation in connection with two fires that gutted a Northridge apartment complex, told a friend shortly before the first blaze that he wanted to burn “something” and then asked how to make a Molotov cocktail, according to an affidavit filed in court.

Dressed in camouflage clothing and a ski mask and armed with a crude, homemade incendiary device, Williams then left the house on foot, returning less than 20 minutes later, the friend told investigators, according to the affidavit written by a Los Angeles Fire Department arson inspector.

Fire Visible a Block Away

Soon after, the affidavit quoted the friend as saying, the apartment complex fire could be seen from Williams’ home a block away.

The affidavit, filed in San Fernando Municipal Court, provides the first clear indication of what led authorities to arrest Williams on Jan. 18 and label him a suspect in the Jan. 8 and Jan. 16 fires.

The blazes caused $2.6 million in damage to the 114-unit complex under construction at 17806 Kinzie St.

The affidavit, written by investigator Gary Cooper to justify the Fire Department’s request for a warrant to search Williams’ home on Superior Street, was based largely on statements made by Williams’ friend, Edward Arnold Markel, a construction worker whose last known address is in Calabasas.

According to Williams’ friend and roommate Bill Downey, Markel temporarily stayed at Williams’ home in early January.

Williams, 32, a free-lance photographer, has denied setting the fires and has yet to be charged with them. Investigators have said they are awaiting the results of laboratory tests they believe may implicate him.

Williams, who is being held in the County Jail in lieu of $68,500 bail, is charged with four counts of felony narcotics and weapons violations stemming from a search of his house. While in custody, he is being given periodic chemotherapy treatments for his cancer.

According to the affidavit, Markel contacted arson investigators the evening of Jan. 17 to say he had information on the first Kinzie Street fire, one of a string of widely publicized construction project arsons in the San Fernando Valley and Glendale.

Hours after the second Kinzie Street fire, the City Council authorized a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the persons responsible for the series of fires.

The affidavit said Markel told investigators that he came to Williams’ house at about 2 a.m. Jan. 9. (The context of the affidavit indicates that investigator Cooper was actually referring to the early-morning hours of Jan. 8, shortly before the first fire occurred. The affidavit lists the fires as occurring Jan. 9 and 17, a day later than they happened. Cooper said the discrepancies “may be a typographical error.”)

Markel’s Story

According to the affidavit, Markel told investigators this story:

Williams told Markel he was going to burn an unspecified unfinished building. Then Williams left the house, armed with a crude homemade incendiary device he had fashioned out of several empty matchbooks secured by a rubber band to a fuse and tied to a one-gallon plastic container stuffed with paper towels and slit at intervals with a razor.

In less than 20 minutes, Williams returned.

“At that time, I heard loud crackling noises and realized that something was burning, there was a red glow in the sky,” the affidavit quotes Markel as saying. Williams then “grabbed his camera and went back down the street.”

Another court document, describing the items found in the Jan. 18 search of Williams’ house, shows that investigators found a bag filled with photographs and slides labeled “Great American Condo Fire.”

The day before the second fire, “Williams was experimenting with different flammable liquids by placing liquid in a can and igniting it with a match,” the affidavit quoted Markel as telling investigators.

In their search of Williams’ home, investigators said they confiscated drugs, camouflage clothing, a plastic trash bag filled with plastic containers, two lengths of “cannon fuse” and a burned, one-quart casserole dish. The affidavit lists pistols, revolvers, rifles, shotguns and ammunition found in the home.

Also found were a partially burnt book of matches, several gas containers and assorted liquids and chemicals, including acetone, lacquer thinner, xylene, nitric acid and an unknown liquid. Also found was a 50-foot extension cord.

Authorities have said they are awaiting the results of laboratory tests to determine whether flammable materials found at the home match materials used in the arsons. Williams’ friends say the chemicals were used by Williams to develop photographs and make jewelry and etchings.

Cooper said in the affidavit that the second fire was set in seven places on the second and third floors by someone who used a flammable liquid similar to gasoline. The blaze was apparently ignited with devices fashioned out of matchbooks secured together with a rubber band.

Outside the burned building, Cooper said, he found a More cigarette lying next to one such device. That was the same brand of cigarette that Markel told investigators he saw at the Williams home after the first fire, the affidavit said.

Markel could not be reached for comment Tuesday. Williams’ housemate, Downey, described Markel as a “rational-type person” who “used to go out fishing with Bruce all the time.”

-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Contributing to this story was Times Staff Writer Janet Rae-Dupree.

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