Investigators reinterviewed witnesses, revealing new and valuable information leading to the arrest of 30-year-old Jacobe Ferguson.
SAN ANTONIO — Hours after officials in San Marcos provided an update on the arrest of Jacobe Ferguson, 30, KENS 5 obtained court documents that show the possible cause of the fire.
Ferguson was arrested on Wednesday morning, five years after the fire broke out at the Iconic Village Apartments on July 20, 2018. The deadly fire killed five people, including San Antonio native, Dru Estes, who would have celebrated his 25th birthday–the same day of Ferguson’s arrest.
The documents reveal a mattress was set on fire after it had been left in a breezeway of the Iconic Village Apartments, near rooms 507 and 509.
The documents show a female friend had given the mattress to Ferguson, but he left it near the apartment. The mattress also had a note with Ferguson’s name on it.
On July 24, 2018, Ferguson initially told investigators he knew nothing about the mattress, but when investigators interviewed him again the next day, he told them he had gotten too busy to pick up the mattress. He went on to tell investigators he was “negligent” for leaving the mattress in the breezeway.
In December of 2018, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), determined the cause of the fire was arson.
By 2022, however, officials realized they needed a fresh set of eyes on the case. That’s when the Iconic Village Investigation Task Force was created.
“It really just went back to we started from the beginning on the case and we started to reexamine everything that was documented by the state fire marshal’s office and the ATF,” Jonathan Henderson, San Marcos Fire Marshall, said.
The task force also reinterviewed several witnesses. Recent interviews indicate Ferguson told another friend he was frustrated he had been left to discard the mattress. He had also been rejected by a woman who lived at the complex after they had gone on a date in June of 2018.
She was seriously hurt after the fire.
During an initial interview with a friend of Ferguson’s in 2018, he told investigators Ferguson had discussed the flammability of a mattress. After reviewing body camera footage of the interview, officials determined the friend did not disclose all he knew about the incident.
In June of 2023, investigators reinterviewed the friend.
The affidavit shows Ferguson told the friend he felt he was going nowhere while working three jobs. The friend also told investigators he believed Ferguson had a “contempt for women” after the rejection and his frustrations of being left with the mattress. The two had also discussed the charges Ferguson could be facing.
Several times during the interview, the documents show the friend said Ferguson “set the fire indicating Ferguson told him.”
Investigators also reinterviewed the female friend who said Ferguson had called her in 2018 and told her to lie to ATF, and not say anything about the mattress. The female friend admitted to reaching out to Ferguson again in 2023 to see if he had been contacted by investigators. Ferguson told her she didn’t have to talk to investigators and had told her to tell investigators “it had been five years and she did not remember.”
The investigation is ongoing. Ferguson is currently sitting in Hays County jail, charged with arson resulting in bodily injury or death, which is a first-degree felony.
Officials said Ferguson had no prior criminal history.
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