Greencastle man charged with arson

Levi Abney

First detained on the morning of a Jan. 26 fire that endangered multiple tenants of a West Side duplex, a Greencastle man was recently arrested for arson.

Levi R. Abney, 28, Greencastle, was booked in the Putnam County Jail at 8:28 a.m. on Wednesday, April 13, charged with two counts of Level 4 felony arson.

Prosecutor Tim Bookwalter had already filed charges in Putnam Superior Court on March 30, with an arrest warrant issued a day later.

Each Level 4 felony charge could carry with it a sentencing range from 2-12 years.

Abney is accused of setting fire to the house at 410 W. Washington St. in the early-morning hours of that frigid January morning, allegedly following a dispute with more than on tenant, whose guest Abney and a female companion had been.

Greencastle firefighters were called to the scene at 2:47 a.m., arriving soon thereafter to find a working fire.

With temperatures hovering at or below zero degrees, fire crews remained on the scene for several hours. They ultimately extinguished the fire, which caused extensive damage to the interior of both sides of the duplex. Tenants from both units as well as an additional attic apartment were displaced by the fire.

According to court documents, Greencastle Police officers on the scene quickly began investigating the fire as a possible act of foul play.

Witnesses from the scene told of volatile behavior from Abney, who had allegedly come to the location for a place to sleep on a night when temperatures were hovering at or below zero degrees.

Multiple witnesses in the apartment told investigators that at some point in the early morning hours, a dispute arose between Abney and one of the tenants over a television being on, with Abney unplugging the device.

Proceeding to another room, Abney allegedly ripped another television off a wall and threw it on top of a disabled occupant.

Abney was then reportedly kicked out of the house, tussling with a tenant and ripping the screen door off its hinges on his way out.

What happened afterward is less clear to investigators, but witnesses say they heard a loud pop from the basement, after which smoke began coming from ducts.

Court documents note that around the same time, Abney and his female companion, Elizabeth Sage, left the scene in her Dodge Magnum.

Sage was later located for questioning after she drove past the scene of the fire in the same vehicle.

Though Sage claimed not to know Abney very well, a search of her phone revealed his full contact, as well as a reference in a text message to the location of a key to the basement of the house.

Abney, who was not with Sage, was located later in the morning.

The Indiana Fire Marshal’s Office was called that morning, with an investigator determining the cause to be arson.

Abney made his initial appearance before Superior Court Judge Denny Bridges on Monday. He remains housed at the Putnam County Jail.