A Tennessee man is accused of trying to kill his mother by setting her and her house on fire after she tried to have him evicted, authorities said.
Dustin Tayler Machen is charged with first-degree attempted murder, attempted especially aggravated kidnapping, aggravated arson, aggravated burglary, and interference with a 911 call in connection with the Thursday, April 9, incident, according to the Washington County Sheriff’s Office.
That day, deputies were called to a home ablaze in Johnson City, where they found a woman with burns on her arms, the sheriff’s office said in a news release issued that day.
She said “Machen threw gas on her and the house as she attempted to leave the residence” and that he also “destroyed her cell phone to prevent her from calling 911,” according to the sheriff’s office.
Washington County Sheriff Keith Sexton confirmed to WJHL that the woman is Machen’s mother.
His mother was ultimately able to escape the burning home to a neighbor’s house, where she called 911, according to the sheriff’s office.
The woman was then taken to a nearby hospital for treatment, the agency said.
Sexton told WJHL that before the fire, Machen’s mother “was in the process of evicting” him.
“At which time he left the residence, came back with a container of gasoline, proceeded to pour the gas on the victim and the house,” Sexton added.
Deputies located Machen, 32, in a field near his mother’s home, Sexton told WCYB.
“Deputies happened to see him,” Sexton said while speaking with WJHL. “We had deployed a drone, which located a backpack that had some of his personal items and other things in there, but he was out in the field just watching the fire.”
Following his arrest, Machen was initially held without bond, according to the sheriff’s office.
He appeared in court the next morning, on Friday, April 10, when a judge set his bond at $2 million, WCYB reported.
Machen is being represented by a public defender, whose name was not listed in court records viewed by Us Weekly on Monday, April 13.
He is due in court for a preliminary hearing on April 23, records show.
In another recent case covered by Us, a Wisconsin man was arrested on a first-degree intentional homicide charge in connection with his mother’s death, according to authorities.
Hayward Jenkins is accused of fatally beating his mother, Cheryl Jenkins, with a baseball bat in late February, authorities said. He told law enforcement that they had a verbal dispute over silver coins before the argument turned deadly.
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