ROME, Ga. — A Rome man is accused of killing his stepmother and multiple animals over a property dispute over the weekend, an incident report reveals.
According to a report by the Rome Police Department, officers responded to a mobile home on Addington Ct. Saturday in reference to a structure fire. It was also advised that a woman was trapped inside. Upon arrival, they saw a single-wide trailer with flames coming out of the roof and around the front door. The back doors to the trailer were so engulfed with the deadly flames that they couldn't enter.
When the fire department got to the scene, one of the officers went to move his car and saw a shirtless man lying down on the side of the road in the weeds and grass. The man, later identified as 26-year-old Timothy Lary, put his hands in the air -- making the officer believe it was a defensive motion.
But then, when the officer got out of the car, the resident of the home tried to grab the officer to get his attention.
"He set the fire, and my wife is inside! I want him to go to jail," the resident told the officer as he pointed to the shirtless man.
The officer then said he ran to the man and asked him if he set fire to the house. According to the incident report, Lary confessed that he had.
The man who said his wife was inside was identified as Lary's father. He told officers that his son had been upset all day, "working his way into a rage." He advised that his son's mother owned the lot and that they rented it from her. Lary allegedly believed the lot belonged to him and wanted his mother to sell it so he could have the money and be on his own. The incident report details that Lary wanted his father and stepmother to be removed from the property.
Lary allegedly told his father that he was going to burn the house down the following day while they were at work. The incident report said Lary took a bunch of papers, set them on fire and threw them on a mattress in his room.
The father said he yelled at his wife to get out and thought she was right behind him. But then he made it outside, and his wife was not there. He believed she went back to the bedroom to rescue their small dogs and cat, the report said.
While at the scene, firefighters discovered a woman's body inside. A dead cat was close to her body, and two small dogs were found in the master bedroom at the back of the house.
After the fire was out, a search warrant was obtained. During this time, officers seized evidence of a small torch lighter found in Lary's pocket, as well as a small amount of marijuana. There were two other cigarette lighters discovered and seized. One was in a lawn chair in the front yard, and another was in the grass in the front yard by the road, the report said.
As the officers were leaving the location to interview Lary at the department, one officer recounted what the suspect allegedly said.
"As we were leaving Addington Ct, Timothy looked at the house and said with some feeling, 'Yeah, let him get your ashes,'" the officer wrote in the report.
Lary was arrested by the Rome Police Department and is being charged with murder, aggravated assault, criminal damage to property, arson in the first degree, cruelty to animals and neglect to a disabled adult, elder person or resident, according to jail logs.
