Two arrests made in February Inland Marina fire

May 18--The owner of a boat that caught fire in February at Inland Marina and another suspect charged in the incident are longtime friends who allegedly burned down the 66-foot house boat for insurance money, authorities said Monday.

Boat owner William H. Marver, 56, of Evansville, and Brenda M. Harris, 48, of Hatfield, Indiana, are accused in the fire that caused at least $4.5 million in damage to boats and the marina. They were both arrested on Monday. In all, five boats were damaged by the fire and four of them capsized. There also was damage to the Inland Marina dock.

Warrants were issued for the two on Monday morning. They are charged with three arson-related crimes: Conspiracy to commit arson; arson for hire; and arson with intent to defraud.

Indiana conservation officers and Evansville Fire Department investigators conducted the three-month investigation. Marver and Harris were believed to be motivated by "financial gain," Cpl. Joe Haywood, a conservation office spokesman, said on Monday. Haywood said search warrants were executed at the suspects' residences on Monday as well.

The fire on Marver's boat started about 12:30 a.m. Feb. 14, and is actually believed to be the second blaze on the boat that night, according to the probable cause affidavit against Marver. One of the two other men on the boat with Harris at the time of the fire reportedly told investigators that a tipped-over kerosene heater had caused a small fire in a carpeted hallway that two other men on the boat were able to put out with a fire extinguisher. That man also told investigators that the first fire started while Harris was alone, because she had told him and another person on the boat to go to the top of the boat and look at one of the vessel's breakers.

The other two people on the boat aside from Marver and Harris have not been charged and are not considered suspects, Haywood said. It was Harris who first called 911, according to an emergency dispatch card previously obtained by the Courier & Press.

According the probable cause affidavit against Marver, Marver and Harris allegedly hoped to get an insurance claim for the fire to help pay for the funeral of Harris' father. Investigators said Harris told Marver in a Facebook message in January that the funeral would cost $7,000 and that her family did not have insurance to help cover the expenses. During that exchange, Marver reportedly told Harris that he wished he could help her, but was $5,000 short of covering his own bills.

"(I) would love to be your hero," he reportedly said.

About an hour after that message, Marver messaged Harris again that he ha an idea to help but wanted to meet Harris in person to discuss it.

Marver and Harris' Facebook messages were turned over to investigators after authorities obtained a search warrant for them on April 30, according to investigators. There is no specific mention of a plan in further correspondence between the two on Facebook, but on Feb. 10 Marver sent Harris a message saying "I need the work we talked about done." She replied by saying "I need to do the work I asked about."

The next day, the two talked about obtaining a kerosene heater, according to the affidavit.

There are no more private messages on Facebook discussing the boat or subsequent fire until a few days after the blaze, but Harris did go on the site to make a public post about the incident hours after the incident, according to investigators.

"So much for a happy Valentine's Day," she wrote. "Especially for my friend William Howard Marver his boat caught fire and they could not save it, it sank to the bottom. Also 4/5 other boats were lost to the fire but ... there is good news. No one got hurt and everyone is still alive. Hurt my back and inhaled too much smoke and cried watching my friends pride n joy burn but Thankful. I hated to leave him bein so upset but just had to get home an rest my back. Think strained it bad pulling on the firehouse the fireman told me to grab and run to the boat. I was in such shock I grabbed it and ran til it got hooked on something then he yelled at me told me to get it loose. I dropped it and said I can't go on. I couldn't even hardly breathe. So I jus got back to house and in an epson bath."

Harris and Maver initially told investigators that Harris was on the boat to clean the vessel because Marver had planned to sell the boat, a story that was mentioned in the pair's Facebook messages to each other three days after the fire.

Haywood said investigators concluded that Harris was actually removing valuable items from the boat before the fire could begin. The affidavit said one of the other men on the boat with Harris told investigators that among those items was a $10,000 speaker system. The affidavit also noted that Allstate representatives told investigators that Marver initiated an insurance claim for the losses in the fire, but authorities did not disclosed when that claim was started.

Marver posted $5,000 cash bond later on Monday and was released.

Both Harris and Marver and are expected to appear in court on Tuesday at 8:30 a.m., according to a jail official.

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Staff writer Zach Evans contributed to this story.

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