BEAVERTON, Ala. (ABP) — A day after another rural Baptist church in Alabama burned Feb. 11, authorities were speculating that the rash of 10 arsons in 10 days is the work of a pair who may be “bosom buddies.”
This time a blaze claimed the Beaverton Freewill Baptist Church, located near the Mississippi border in the northwestern part of the state. Inspectors said the fire was the work of an arsonist, and they noted witness reports about two white males in a dark-colored SUV at the scene of several of the crimes.
“They're not youths or teens,” Eric Kehn, a spokesman for the Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agency, reportedly said. “It's probably someone in their 20s or 30s. We believe they're pretty much inseparable. They're something like bosom buddies.”
Possible clues as to the identities of the suspects include a fingerprint from the side of a front door and a footprint found outside the back of Dancy First Baptist Church near Aliceville, The Christian Post reported. Officials have also determined that in several of the fires, the perpetrators followed the same modus operandi: Kicking in the front door of each church, setting the fire near the pulpit and escaping through the back.
Investigators said the arsonists could have set the fires in response to outside stress involving “family, relationships, work, [or] the economy.” They invited the suspects to begin a “dialogue” with them in order to reach a resolution.
To that end, locals have advertised a special phone line, post office box and e-mail address created for potential contact from the perpetrators. State and federal rewards top $10,000 for evidence leading to an arrest.
Out of the 10 fires, the latest blaze was the only one set during daylight. Possible motives for the fires seem to exclude racial hatred, since half of the churches had mostly African-American congregations, and the other half had mostly white congregations. All were Baptist, although at least three separate Baptist denominations are among the victims.
Beaverton, which has around 200 residents, lies about 85 miles northwest of Birmingham.
Rick Lance, the executive director of the Alabama Baptist Convention's board, responded to the latest fire with a statement released through the group's website. In it, he told the perpetrators that, despite their acts, they faced strongly committed congregations “seeking to be certain that good comes out of evil.”
Lance said that while the buildings have burned, the real church consists of the people.
“Churches, like families, can go through trying times — such as what was experienced in the wave of hurricanes that battered the Gulf Coast last fall,” Lance said. “Yet there is a resilience of faith which characterizes the congregations. They personify the kind of courage and compassion I believe the Lord blesses. That is a testimony of undefeatable determination and dedication.”
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