A manhunt for a suspected arsonist culminated with an arrest yesterday, as Knoxville authorities detained a man accused of torching a local Dollar General, causing over one million dollars’ worth of damage. Sources say 31-year-old Daniel Lee Nelson, who was also wanted as a fugitive from justice in Alabama for avoiding a forgery charge, confessed to setting the fire after prosecutors say he was spotted on surveillance igniting products with a lighter. According to the Knoxville Fire Department, the blaze ripped through the store on May 14, and the suspect was apprehended a week later.
Assistant Chief Mark Wilbanks from the Knoxville Fire Department said that "investigators have been working diligently to identify and locate a suspect since the fire broke out around 3 p.m. on Tuesday, May 14," as reported by WVLT News. Nelson was reportedly taken into custody around 4 p.m. the following Monday, after admitting to investigators that he was the perpetrator behind the sinister act.
Details released in an arrest warrant and obtained by WBIR indicate that Nelson was seen on camera perusing the aisles before making his way to the back of the store, stopping at an endcap filled with paper products. Allegedly, smoke and flames became visible within seconds of him walking away from the area. Arrest warrants state that Nelson looked back several times at the fire but did not sound the alarm before leaving the premises. He then observed several people evacuate the store from the safety of a silver SUV before fleeing.
Nelson has since been charged with one count of aggravated arson and is currently being held at the Knox County Detention Facility. The motive behind the arson remains undetermined at this time, as per WATE. The Knoxville Fire Department was able to contain the fire approximately two hours after it began, and in the interim, appealed to the public for information that could lead to an arrest.
