An arrest has been made in the case of several house fires in Oelwein yesterday morning. Police and Fire were dispatched to a report of a house fire just after 2am. Officers immediately began notifying neighbors of the fire and the need to evacuate as the fire was spreading. The initial house was almost completely destroyed by fire. The house to the south and the one to the west both also caught on fire. An investigation determined the fire to be suspicious in nature. Later in the day 50 year old Jeannie Murphy of Oelwein was taken into custody and charged with Arson. She was transported to the Fayette County Jail. Murphy has been in trouble with the law before. On one occasion her father awoke to Murphy standing near him holding a liquid filled bottle and wearing plastic gloves. She told her father the liquid was acid and then proceeded to dump it on him. The liquid was later determined to be beef broth, molasses, and other ingredients and not acid of any kind, although police say Murphy believed it to truly be acid.
