CHENEY, Wash. — The man accused of trying to burn down his ex-girlfriend’s home in Cheney appeared in Superior Court Tuesday afternoon.
David Weimer, 55, was arrested by US Marshalls on May 7 for first-degree arson and first-degree attempted murder.
On Tuesday, the judge set Weimer's bond at $500,000. He will be back in court June 18.
On May 6, Spokane County Sheriff’s Office deputies were called to a home on South Sherman Road at 11:30 p.m. for a report of a possible arson. The victim said she was sleeping in her home when she heard a loud boom and realized her home was on fire. Officials said she initially could not get out of the home because all the exit doors of the home had been set on fire. She eventually escaped and called 911.
Neighbors who heard the loud boom showed up to the house and tried to put out the fire with garden hoses. Fire crews later arrived and put the fire out.
The woman inside the house was not injured.
The victim told investigators she recently broke up with her boyfriend, Weimer, and he had been sending her threatening texts and emails. Weimer had emailed the victim over 20 times the day of the incident, according to documents.
Court documents said after Weimer was arrested, he confessed to lighting the trailer on fire and said he was "lying in wait nearby as detectives processed the scene."
He told detectives he had fashioned a tree branch to look like a gun and if police saw him, he was going to force them to shoot him, documents said.
In a press release from the sheriff’s office, officials said there were four different locations on the home where the suspect started a fire, including both entrance and exit door and in two different areas along the exterior walls of the home.
Investigators also found a new match carton, butane fuel containers, several cigarette butts, a bottle of whiskey, coke bottles and two different gas containers near the home.