(January 12, 2009)—Waco fire investigators found a 26-year-old Waco man wanted in a series of arson fires that destroyed a motel, an historic school and a Chevrolet Suburban in a local hospital Monday where he was taken after a traffic accident.
Eric Benavidez was injured in an accident around 4 a.m. Monday, Waco Fire Marshal Jerry Hawk said.
He was in fair condition in the intensive care unit Monday afternoon at Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center.
Benavidez is wanted on four counts of arson in the fires, Hawk said, and will be arrested when he’s released from the hospital.
Kevin David Allen, 28, of Waco was arrested late last month and was charged with three counts of arson in connection with the fires that destroyed Waco’s historic Sanger Avenue Elementary School, the vacant Townhouse Hotel and a Chevrolet Suburban in the 700 block of Grice on Oct. 24-25.
According to arrest affidavits, Benavidez got a one-gallon anti-freeze container and along with Allen, filled the container with gasoline before going to a house in the 700 block of Grice.
The affidavit says the two men broke out a window on a 1989 Chevrolet Suburban and set the vehicle on fire using the gasoline.
The affidavit says a witness saw the two men as they fled from the burning vehicle and was able to obtain the license plate number.
Investigators were able to locate the vehicle and inside, according to the affidavit, found a one-gallon antifreeze container.
In a second arrest affidavit, Hawk says Allen and Benavidez entered the vacant elementary school through a window and used charcoal lighter fluid to start the fire.
In the affidavit, Hawk says a witness was able to give details of the entry point into the building that was, "consistent with investigator's findings as to entry into the building and to location of the area of origin of the incendiary fire."
In a third affidavit, related to the Townhouse Hotel fire, Hawk says that Allen and Benavidez entered the building with lighter fluid and a one-gallon antifreeze container filled with gasoline and used the lighter fluid and gasoline to start a fire.
The container was later obtained as evidence.
The first in the series of arson fires, which broke out around 9:20 p.m. on Oct. 24 in a vacant restaurant building at 2310 W. Waco Dr, caused some damage to the interior of the structure and only minor damage to the exterior.
The fire at the vacant Townhouse Hotel at 1715 Washington Ave broke out around 11: 20 p.m. on Oct. 24.
Flames raced through the rear wing of the long-vacant hotel and caused considerable structural damage throughout the building, officials said.
The Suburban was set on fire early in the morning of Oct. 25 and the fire at the 104-year-old school at North 17th Street and Sanger Avenue was reported around 4:40 a.m. on Oct. 25.
The fire had spread throughout the building by the time the first crews arrived and within three minutes the bell tower collapsed, breaking through the roof and providing a rush of air that “caused an immediate escalation of the fire’s intensity,” officials said.
The flames consumed wood floors, beams and joists and the heat of the fire affected the mortar holding the bricks, leaving the remains of the building extremely unstable, officials said.
The school, the main portion of which was built in 1904, was closed in 1974.
It briefly housed a Head Start program, but has been vacant since.
Designed by Waco architect Milton Scott, the building had a cupola, a rotunda, an upstairs auditorium and arches.
The determination that the fires were set on purpose came after an investigation by the Waco Fire Department’s Fire Marshal’s Office and the Bureau Of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Read The Full Press Release On The Fires’ Cause
Officials said earlier they don’t think the arsonists were paid to start any of the fires, but instead described the fires as malicious in nature.
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