June 24, 2004
A Ball State student remained in jail without bail Wednesdayafter he set fire to a home in an escalating harassment of hisex-girlfriend, police said.
Lee J. Lillie, 2820 N. Everbrook Lane, Apt. 2B, was arrested onsuspicion of attempted murder and arson, Terry Winters, deputypolice chief, said. Cpl. Tom Davis of the Delaware County Jail saidLillie was being held on a suicide watch as a precaution.
Winters said Lillie set fire to the house of Geoff Ginther, 119W. Weber Drive, early Monday morning while Ginther and Sara Butler,Lillie's ex-girlfriend, were asleep. No one was injured.
Winters said Lillie, a psychology and philosophy major, hademotional problems because of his breakup with Butler.
"He said he just couldn't take it anymore," Winters said.
When Ginther, a senior management and information systems major,and Butler, a junior psychology major, woke up early Mondaymorning, the fire had been going a while, Ginther said.
"I woke up and the room was full of black smoke," Ginthersaid.
Butler said she couldn't breathe and Ginther had to drag her tothe window.
"I didn't want to jump, but he said, 'You have to jump,'" Butlersaid.
After he tried to open the bedroom door and found too much fireand smoke, they jumped out of a second-story window, Ginthersaid.
Even after they were out of the house, they were covered inashes, Butler said.
"We didn't realize how black we were until we were in thelight," Butler said. "The suds were black the first few times whenI washed my hair."
When Ginther and Butler visited the house on Tuesday looking forpossessions to salvage, the siding was melted off the house and thebrick was charred. Ginther said he lost pretty much everything inthe fire. Butler said her car, which was parked near the house,melted with her cell phone inside. The back end of Ginther's truckalso sustained damage from the flames.
Chief Fire Investigator David Miller said that the fire, whichcaused $30,000 in damage to the house, was deliberately set.
"There was nothing in that room or porch that would have caughtfire all by itself," Miller said.
Ginther called the police around 3:20 a.m. Monday, Winters said.Police brought Lillie, Butler's ex-boyfriend, in for questioning anhour later. Through investigation, the police discovered Lillie hadpoured lighter fluid on a couch on the front porch and lit it onfire, Winters said.
Butler said Lillie has harassed her since they broke up a monthago, leaving numerous phone messages.
"It got to the point where I talked for just a little bit on thephone, and I'd have so many messages I had to scroll through them,"Butler said.
The university contacted both Butler and Ginther and offered tohelp, but the students said they had insurance and did not need theuniversity's assistance, associate director of universitycommunications Glenn Augustine said.
Augustine said the university is issuing Lillie a lettersuspending him on an interim basis.
"The only way we would re-admit Lillie is if he were cleared ofall charges," Augustine said.
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