VENTURA : Man Rearrested Over Fire That Killed Girl
A 44-year-old man accused of arson and murder in a Ventura apartment building fire that killed a 2-year-old girl was rearrested in jail Tuesday after a delay in filing charges, police said.
Calvin Michael Mitchell was originally arrested Sunday. He is accused of setting a fire at 90 S. Laurel St. because he was angry with his former girlfriend, who lived across from the apartment where the little girl died, police said. Mitchell did not appear to be targeting toddler Sarah Galka or her family, police said.
Ventura Police Lt. Brad Talbot said rearresting Mitchell allows police to finish preparing the case.
“It basically takes a long time to get all these things together in a case of this magnitude,” Talbot said. Officers have to do numerous interviews and take witnesses’ statements, he said.
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