Saddled With Debt, Some Decide to Torch Vehicles

Even worse for Harley: His wife, Kathryn, told investigators that the couple had left in the Yukon -- and two cans of gasoline. Kathryn Harley told the investigators that her husband and his brother, Jeremy L. Harley, 29, went to a field, poured gasoline on the truck and set it ablaze.

Paul Harley, an Amtrak employee, was having difficulty making his $800-a-month payment, police said. He filed a claim with Allstate for $25,000, police said. The brothers face arson and fraud charges.

An attorney for Paul Harley, John F. Mudd, declined to comment. His brother's attorney did not return a message seeking comment.

Why burn a car in the first place? Why not just sell it to a chop shop or push it into a lake?

Car arsonists often want police to find their torched vehicles so they can get claims more quickly.

And unlike setting fire to a home or business, scam artists don't have to make a car fire seem like an accident, because the fraud scheme typically relies on the claim that a car thief set the fire.

Car burns often happen in out-of-the-way places with few witnesses -- but not always.

About 1 a.m. on March 18, Robert Houston of Wheaton, a retired bricklayer and a light sleeper, heard noises and looked out his window.

As Houston, 66, later described it to investigators, he saw a stocky man walking from a parked sedan and talking on a cellphone as a fire started in the car's back seat.

Investigators eventually arrested the car's owner, David Salinas, 27, who lived three blocks away. He is scheduled for trial next month on charges of arson and insurance fraud. His attorney, Terrence McGann, declined to discuss details of the case but said he expected his client to be exonerated.

Among the clues authorities say implicate Salinas in starting the fire: He was behind on car payments and his cellphone records belied a claim that he had been asleep.

As Houston discussed the case with investigators, he shared his own hunch, employing a shorthand for repossession.

"Sounds to me like someone was behind on their payments," he said, "and was about to be repopped."

Staff writer Tom Jackman contributed to this report.