Two men are facing up to 15 years in prison after admitting to setting fire to a mobile home last spring.
Austin Thomas Hinckley, 25, and Stephen Leon McMurtrey, 51, are both charged with felony second-degree arson following months of investigation. According to an affidavit of probable cause, Hinckley and McMurtry confessed to starting the fire in order to get rid of its owner.
The alleged arson happened on March 27, 2019. Police reports show the Shelley Firth Rural Fire Department responded to the fire at 1550 North in Bingham County. When firefighters arrived they determined the mobile home and everything inside a complete loss.
Just prior to the fire, dispatch logs showed someone at the address called in saying they would be burning weeds along a ditch at the property. When investigators, including the State Fire Marshal, visited the burnt remains of the home, they discovered suspicious patterns of burning in the grass.