More than five years after the Old Fire destroyed a thousand homes and contributed to six deaths, prosecutors are reviewing a murder and arson case against a 27-year-old prison inmate, it was reported today.
The San Bernardino County district attorney's office is close to deciding whether Rick Lee Fowler will face charges in the catastrophe, according to the Press-Enterprise of Riverside, which cited multiple unnamed sources with knowledge of the investigation.
``I gave them what they wanted to hear . . . but it's time to clear some things up,'' Fowler wrote in a one-page letter dated April 13 from Salinas Valley State Prison to the Press-Enterprise, the newspaper reported.
Fowler was referring to his contact with investigators of the Old Fire, the Press-Enterprise reported. In his letter, he encouraged further questions from reporters but did not respond to subsequent correspondence.
The October 2003 Old Fire destroyed 1,003 homes in the city of San Bernardino and in mountain communities that are a second home to many residents of Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties.
The Old Fire also burned more than 90,000 acres over nine days and caused $45 million in damage, the Press-Enterprise reported.
All six Old Fire deaths were heart attacks or induced by the stress of fighting or fleeing wind-driven flames. Santa Ana winds and on-shore winds from the opposite direction produced firestorm conditions several times during the Old Fire.Authorities immediately focused on a possible arson suspect or suspects in a white van spotted at the point of origin on Oct. 25, 2003.
In the aftermath of the disaster, prosecutors said they were confident they could prove an arsonist or arsonists committed murder even though no one had burned to death, the Press-Enterprise reported.
Fowler has not been charged with anything related to the Old Fire. But the new look by high-ranking district attorney's officials is the closest to a conclusion the case has come since it was first presented four years ago, the Press-Enterprise reported.
The case languished, then was briefly considered by the U.S. attorney's office, and ultimately revived at the San Bernardino County level, the Press- Enterprise reported.
Susan Mickey, a district attorney's spokeswoman, told the newspaper on Friday she could not comment on ongoing investigations.
Fowler was arrested in December 2003 on charges that -- one week after the Old Fire began -- he robbed a 67-year-old woman of $720 cash, cut her on the hand with a meat cleaver, and stabbed her dog, according to court records.
Fowler was already facing a six-year prison sentence for a guilty plea in an April 2003 burglary of a San Bernardino home, the Press-Enterprise reported.
In March 2004, before authorities completed an arson probe of the Old Fire, Fowler pleaded guilty in the robbery case, which reduced his conviction to burglary. He was sentenced to a total of 15 years in prison, according to the Press-Enterprise.
Fowler remains locked up at Salinas Valley State Prison in Soledad.
``I've said some things to the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department just to see how they'd respond,'' Fowler wrote in his April 13 letter to the Press-Enterprise. ``And they haven't at all.''
Unnamed sources told the Press-Enterprise Fowler has been interviewed several times during an investigation and he has provided incriminating evidence that placed him in a 1996 white Chevrolet van spotted at the point of origin for the Old Fire on Oct. 25, 2003.
The sources requested anonymity because they are not authorized to speak about the pending case, the Press-Enterprise reported.
The white Chevrolet van in question was recovered in Los Angeles County in January 2004.
A witness parked on a turnout near Old Waterman Canyon Road the day the Old Fire started saw a white van, and said the passenger in the van hurled a flare into dense brush, according to the Press-Enterprise.
Other witnesses told investigators of a white van, and thousands of fliers were distributed with a sketch of a suspect driving the van. According to the Press-Enterprise, that man has since died, leaving authorities to focus on the passenger -- and whether Fowler was the one who hurled the flare that ignited a catastrophe.
