Dateline: October 4, 2007

'01 fire catches up with Wilson 

District Judge David McCoy sentenced a former Clarendon man to 14 years in the state penitentiary Monday for an arson committed more than six years ago.

Larry Wilson of Amarillo had been on probation for burning his own house here in 2001 when he failed a random drug test and was arrested last December, according to District Attorney Stuart Messer.

A contested hearing was held August 30 at which time the defense produced an unsigned but notarized affidavit from a witness who claimed someone had put marijuana in Wilson’s food without his knowledge.

Messer said the mystery witness failed to show up for Monday’s court appearance, and a medical expert for the state testified that the defendant could not have eaten that much marijuana for the levels shown by the urinalysis.

Following the sentencing, Donley County Sheriff Butch Blackburn praised the district attorney.

“The citizens of Donley County need to thank Stuart Messer for prosecuting this case,” he said.

Messer said he appreciated the work of the sheriff and the probation office.

“This just shows when everyone works together, we can get something done,” the district attorney said.

Wilson’s case began when the historic Saye House at Sixth and Kearney burned the night of February 13, 2001. Officials suspected arson as the cause of the blaze at the time and told the Enterprise that the fire was suspicious because it started in the middle of the floor in an upstairs room.

Three years later, Wilson was indicted in the case. Two other local men were also previously arrested and sentenced in connection with the fire. Allen Turner, age 26, was arrested July 15, 2003, and sentenced to the Department of Corrections in December. In 2004, Jimmy Reese, age 49, also faced an arson charge in the case. He received probation on July 1 of that year.

Wilson was accused of employing Reese and Turner to burn the house for insurance money.

The historic home was built at the turn of the 20th century and was purchased by the grandparents of Tommie C. Saye in the 1920s. Five generations of the Saye family lived there during their 60-year ownership of the property. In the 1980s, the house overlooking City Park was sold to Clifford Alexander, whose family occupied the home for about 20 years before selling it.