‘Worry and fear’: Bend resident asks for public’s help after her car is destroyed in suspected arson
Isabella Warren
(Update: Adding video, Adding more details)
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ)– Around 1 a.m. on Sunday, Bend Police responded to a car fire near Pilot Butte. The fire, which was caused by a road flare, is being investigated as arson.
Anna Berry recalls the moment she saw her car in flames.
“We woke up to the sound of either a car alarm or a horn blaring. And when we got outside, we found that the car was on fire, which was not what I was expecting. “
Her home surveillance footage showed the moment around her car was intentionally set on fire. The suspect can be seen with a flare approaching the car. Minutes later, the area is bright from the flames. The front of the car was completely torched, with an estimated $5,000 in damages.
“(I feel) some anger, mostly worry and fear, that they’re still there,” she said Tuesday.
Aureanna Gabriella Hernandez witnessed the car on fire, and lives just down the street.
“That’s, like, unheard of,” she said. “And we live a couple of blocks down, so it was even more scary that night. Like thinking, wow. Like that was in our community. That was in our neighborhood.”
Berry is now asking for the public’s help.
“We don’t really have any leads to finding the person. And if that makes me feel a little less safe or worried about, you know, our safety and protecting our belongings and our property. “
It’s the third case of arson in the area in the past week. A resident of a small homeless encampment north of Bend was arrested on arson and other charges Friday, accused of setting a vehicle fire that spread to a nearby trailer and trees. Another woman appeared in court last week after being charged with arson, after one RV at Green Acres RV Park south of Redmond was engulfed, with the fire spreading to other trailers and flames threatening nearby propane tanks.