Riverside, Calif. – Authorities on Thursday filed murder and arson charges carrying the death penalty against a man suspected of setting a Southern California wildfire last week that killed five firefighters.
The suspect, Raymond Lee Oyler, 36, was already under arrest on suspicion of setting two other wildfires over the summer. Officials were investigating whether he was involved with more than three dozen fires since May.
Last week’s blaze was the deadliest for firefighters since July 1994, when 14 were killed near Glenwood Springs.
District Attorney-elect Rod Pacheco said the evidence against Oyler was “overwhelming.” Prosecutors charged him with five counts of murder, 11 counts of arson and 10 counts of use of an incendiary device. The charges include seven fires in June, one in July, one in September and two in October.
Oyler, an auto mechanic, appeared in court in handcuffs and a jail jumpsuit as his attorney denied all charges.
Oyler “adamantly denies involvement in this fire and in any of these fires,” attorney Mark McDonald said outside court. “He’s very distraught and scared. … The finger is pointing at him.”
Oyler, who said nothing during the brief hearing, was held without bail.
Authorities did not immediately disclose a motive and would not say what led them to Oyler.
Oyler will also face two so-called special circumstances, one alleging murders committed during arson and another alleging multiple murders.
The charges are punishable by life in prison without parole or the death penalty. Prosecutors will decide in the next 60 days which sentence to seek.
