Officials say Weakley Co. man set fire to mobile home while wife slept inside
Husband sets fire to get out of lease
WEAKLEY COUNTY, Tenn. — A man is facing an arson charge in a 2015 fire after investigators say he admitted to setting a mobile home ablaze while his wife was asleep inside.
“The fire department was able to respond and they were able to extinguish the fire,” said Weakley County Sheriff’s Office Investigator Marty Plunk. “But while looking for a cause of the fire, they began to find some things that didn’t match with an accidental fire.”
David Cody Watkins
David Cody Watkins, 25, of Gleason is accused of starting the fire Jan. 21, 2015, at his mobile home on Winstead Road just north of Dresden, according to a release from the Weakley County Sheriff’s Office.
Investigators say Watkins told them he set the fire knowing his wife was asleep inside. He also reportedly told them he took their infant child and went to church after starting the fire.
The Dresden Fire Department put out the fire after it was reported by a 911 call.
“His reason that he gave me was that he was tired of living in that residence and didn’t want to break the lease,” Plunk said. “It’s one of those crimes where it’s not a victimless crime.”
According to the release, the charge will be upgraded to aggravated arson when the case is heard in general sessions court. Aggravated arson, a class A felony, means that someone was in the structure when the fire was set or that a firefighter suffered serious bodily injury because of the fire.
