Crime & Safety

Suspicious Claas Road Fire Remains Under Investigation

A home on Claas Road was completely destroyed in November, and firefighters and police immediately suspected foul play. Police have obtained phone records from one of the homeowners hoping to gather more evidence.

Menomonee Falls police continue to investigate a suspicious fire that destroyed a home on Claas Road in November.

At roughly 12:45 a.m. Nov. 6, firefighters responded to a home already fully engulfed in flames. Firefighters stayed on the scene through the night, and immediately suspected foul play after a preliminary investigation of the scene. 

Upon further investigation by police and a trained arson investigator, it appeared the fire started in the family room by a door that connects to the garage. Investigators had already ruled out any electrical or mechanical cause for the fire. However, French doors at the rear of the home had been entered using a flathead type-tool pry open the hasp that secured those doors.

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Neither homeowner was in the house at the time of the fire. The couple that owned the home was divorced, and the husband was living in Milwaukee and the wife was living in Cedarburg at the time.

Police filed a warrant and searched records of calls from a phone belonging to the wife.

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According to the affidavit filed with the Waukesha County Circuit Court:

The house had been vacant since June 2012, and the electric company turned off the power in June 2012. The husband said the home was in foreclosure and his wife was attempting to surrender the home to the bank.

The husband told police he had been receiving threatening text messages from a person he owed money to. The man would borrow his girlfriend’s phone or use a “throw phone” to send the messages.

Police then interviewed the wife, and while speaking to police her husband called and told her he believed he was the top suspect in the fire. However, he did not say why he believed that. The wife denied any involvement with the incident. 

On Nov. 12, police interviewed the man who was owed money, and he denied any involvement in the fire. It was clear to police that the man did not like the husband.

Roughly 100 pages of phone records have been obtained by police through the warrant. Patch will continue to monitor this story as updates become available. 


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