INDReporter

More to the story?

by Patrick Flanagan

One Lafayette man’s alleged obsession with a Crestlawn Drive residence — a home he’s believed to have set afire on Jan. 16 — resulted in an arrest on Monday.

One Lafayette man’s alleged obsession with a Crestlawn Drive residence — a home he’s believed to have set afire Jan. 16 — resulted in an arrest on Monday.

According to the daily intake log for the Lafayette Parish Correctional Center, 41-year-old David Michael Bruce was brought in Monday morning for booking. The charge: one count of simple arson tied to the Jan. 16 fire at the home on Crestlawn Drive.

Lafayette Fire Department spokesman Alton Trahan says Bruce is believed to have started the fire “after a period of strife” with the woman who lived at the Crestlawn home. The investigation, which is still ongoing, has so far revealed that Bruce, allegedly, started the fire in the home’s carport, catching two vehicles ablaze before firefighters arrived on the scene and brought the situation under control after about 20 or 30 minutes. Both the home and cars, however, were destroyed in the blaze.

Sources close to the incident say that the woman who local officials cited as being involved in “a period of strife” with Bruce also maintained a second residence within the city, and that Bruce had been spotted lurking near that home in the weeks leading up to the fire.

As of this morning [Tuesday], Bruce remains in jail, at least for now, as he awaits an appearance before a judge and a bond hearing.