COBB COUNTY, Ga. — Fire investigators in Cobb County say what may have appeared to be an accidental fire was a murder.
Channel 2's Matt Johnson learned a man is in jail but he's suffering from dementia, according to friends.
Channel 2 Action News first brought you this story in October when firefighters were working to put out the flames. Investigators believe the fire started on the second floor and the husband and wife inside were able to get out this door with their lives.
Rodney Greenfield lives next to the Austell condo where Sharon Croft, 63, was killed.
He told Johnson that he refuses to believe his disabled neighbor Richard Elsner, 63, is capable of murdering her.
"These things take time to develop dementia, or whatever, Alzheimer’s, and he has both," Greenfield said.
An arrest warrant obtained by Channel 2 Action News Thursday reveals new evidence investigators have laid out. Elsner had threatened to kill his wife in previous text messages, according to the warrant. Investigators were first told by Elsner that he set the fire accidentally while smoking, according to the warrant, but then he allegedly changed his story and said it was an electrical fire. The warrant goes on to allege a worker at Wellstar Cobb Hospital told an investigator that Elsner said that he intentionally set the fire.
Johnson obtained Elsner's mugshot Wednesday night shortly after authorities booked him into the jail, charged with first-degree arson and murder.
In October, Channel 2's Audrey Washington spoke to Elsner's wife at the scene about how she says she, her husband, and their roommate Croft were all in the home together.
"I had to try to get him down the stairs and once I did that and tried to go back up, it was just too hot, and I couldn't breathe," she said.
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Elsner has been in the hospital since the fire with his own injuries.
His neighbor says it would be unlike him to put people at risk on purpose.
"He's an ex-Marine, c'mon man, he's been with his lady 46 years, him and her, against the world," Greenfield said.
Friends of Croft reached out to Johnson late Wednesday night to express doubt that the fire was an accident, citing recent arguments within the condo.
For some who know Elsner, they hope he doesn't spend his final days in prison.
"The judge is gonna say, 'C'mon man, seriously?' If he's in this state now, he had to be in this state when it happened," Greenfield said.
Cox Media Group
