Burning Toyota leads to arson arrest

A 28-year-old Coeur d’Alene man accused of torching a green Toyota pickup truck in an effort to get back at the truck’s owner for a friend is in jail on $25,000 bail.

Along with two misdemeanors including malicious injury to property and causing a public disturbance akin to a riot, Skylar M. Camantigue faces charges of first degree arson, a felony that can carry a 25-year prison sentence and a fine of $100,000.

Camantigue was arrested on a warrant and appeared Thursday in Magistrate Court, where a preliminary hearing was scheduled within two weeks.

Coeur d’Alene police interviewed more than a half dozen suspects. They viewed footage from surveillance cameras along Coeur d’Alene Avenue where the incident occurred, including one at Sorensen Magnet School, before getting a break in the case.

David Kelley, a Coeur d’Alene police detective who investigated the cause of the fire, wrote in an April 26 report — a week after the incident — that he was running out of suspects.

“We’ve exhausted many leads in this case,” Kelley wrote in his report.

Camantigue, who was not a suspect at the time, was interviewed by police for a separate incident when he told officers he was aware of the arson. Further investigation led to his arrest.

Police said the incident happened before 4 a.m. April 12 on the 200 block of North 10th Street. It was reported by a motorist on Coeur d’Alene Avenue who saw flames shooting 5 feet high from the front and back of the Toyota. The witness also saw a trail of fire that appeared to be leading away from the pickup truck, according to his statement.

Detectives confirmed a trail of burned fuel leading into an alley, and Coeur d’Alene fire investigators said the pickup truck was likely doused with gasoline and lighted by someone hidden in the alley at the end of the fuel trail.

Police said the fuel was dumped on the vehicle’s passenger side for the length of the pickup truck, and the weather stripping on top of the cab tested positive for gasoline.

A neighbor told police she was asleep when she heard a loud bang, but thought it was a car door slamming. When she looked outside around 4 a.m., a tow truck was preparing to haul the Toyota.

Camantigue said the arson was performed as a favor for a friend who wanted reprisal against the pickup truck’s owner. The owner told police he did not have enemies and could not provide detectives with a valuable suspect list.

Camantigue’s previous charges have been misdemeanors.