BRIEF: Opry manager found not guilty of arson charges

Feb. 01--A Brown County jury found James Bowyer of Morgantown not guilty on all charges in his arson trial. He was accused of setting the fire that destroyed Brown County's Little Nashville Opry in 2009.

Investigators believed Bowyer had set the fire in hopes of claiming $3 million in insurance money. He and his companion, Little Nashville Opry owner Esther Hamilton, had accumulated large debts from casino gambling.

During the trial, Bowyer's attorney maintained that the Opry manager had not been the last to leave the property the night of the fire.

This story will be updated.

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