One of the 2020 California wildfires was started to cover up a murder, officials say
- Officials in California's Solano County said a devastating wildfire there began on purpose.
- Prosecutors say Victor Serriteno began the fire to conceal the remains of Priscilla Castro, 32.
- Serriteno was already in custody, and officials first linked him to the fire on Wednesday.
Officials said Wednesday that one of the wildfires that ravaged California last year was deliberately set to cover up a suspected murder.
The Markley Fire began near a dam in Solano County, in Northern California, on August 18. It ravaged thousands of acres of land before merging with a larger fire that took more than a month to extinguish.
The burned body of Priscilla Castro, 32, was found at the dam a few weeks after the fire started. Officials on Wednesday linked the man charged with her murder to the fire for the first time.
Victor Serriteno, now 29, has been in police custody since his arrest in mid-September, while the fire was still raging.
Prosecutors believe she was killed on August 16, two days before the fire began.
As the fire spread it killed two people: Douglas Mai, 82, and Leon "James" Bone, 64, who were found dead at their homes, Solano County Sheriff Tom Ferrara told reporters on Wednesday.
Linking Serriteno to the blaze, Ferrara said: "Based on an extensive eight-month-long investigation, we believe Serriteno deliberately set the Markley Fire in an attempt to conceal his crime."
Prosecutors plan to file two additional murder charges, for the deaths of Mai and Bone, as well as arson charges against Serriteno, Solano County District Attorney Krishna Abrams told reporters Wednesday.
As it spread, the Markley Fire merged with a larger fire, the Hennessey Fire, and was eventually considered part of the broader LNU Lightning Complex.
Those fires burned 363,220 acres of land and were eventually extinguished in early October, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
