Tips Sought in Arson Attack on 2 Children

They went to bed as two innocent children but awoke as the city’s latest crime victims.

Rafi and Chaya Moshe were asleep when somebody hurled a Molotov cocktail through the second-story window of their Woodman Avenue apartment, engulfing it in flames.

The firebomb not only frightened Rafi, 10, and Chaya, 9, awake, it also seriously burned them.

Who would do such a thing to two helpless children?

That’s the tough question.

To answer it, Los Angeles city arson investigators are seeking the public’s assistance. Authorities recently offered a $20,000 reward for help in finding the person who tossed the firebomb into the Moshes’ apartment--a case that illustrates the difficulties in solving arson fires.

Last year more than 3,400 arson fires were committed in Los Angeles. Of the roughly 1,000 cases that were investigated, arrests were made in about one-third of the fires.

“[Arson fires] are generally more difficult to solve because there are typically no witnesses,” said David Liske, an arson investigator for the Los Angeles Fire Department. “Many arsons are also committed under cover of darkness--usually during night or early morning hours.”

Another complicating factor: Arson victims rarely have face-to-face contact with their assailants, so they can’t describe or identify them to investigators.

But that doesn’t mean they don’t know their assailants.

“The most common reason for arson fire is spite or revenge,” Liske said.

As a result, investigators like Liske carefully question arson victims to see if there is someone out there who would want to harm them.

Through the interviewing process, investigators may learn, for example, that the victim had been having problems with an ex-boyfriend and that threats had been made.

Other arson motives include fraud, pyromania, civil disturbance or to cover up a crime.

More often than not, identifying a suspect can turn out to be a tough task with few breaks.

“A lot of times there may not be anyone who can help us,” Liske said. “It may have been a random act, or the victim may be having a dispute with someone but doesn’t believe that person is capable of setting a fire.”

It’s in those situations, Liske said, that the public can play a key role. He recalled cases where witnesses came forward with information that pushed investigations into entirely different directions.

In the Moshe case, a witness saw a dark-colored Toyota Camry or Nissan Sentra-styled car leaving the alley with its headlights off moments after the firebomb was thrown. The people in the car were heard laughing as they drove away.

“The family is at a loss why somebody would want to do something like this to them,” Liske said. “The kids are now dealing with physical and emotional issues of waking up on fire.”

Rafi and Chaya were hospitalized with first-, second- and third-degree burns over 15% of their bodies. Both children have been released from the hospital but must wear burn pressure garments while their wounds heal.

Liske and his colleagues are searching for additional clues in the case, and they believe there may be someone out there who can help them. At one point, they received an anonymous phone tip, but the caller spoke so quickly she was difficult to understand and left only a partial phone number.

“We would love it if she would call back,” Liske said.

To contact an arson investigator dial: (213) 485-6095.