An Englewood woman paid her cousin and his girlfriend to torch the car of a local teen her son was having trouble with, authorities charged.
City detectives worked with their colleagues from Dumont to eventually take four people into custod, following an overnight Dec. 23 fire that destroyed a 2003 Mitsubishi Gallant behind a Mattlage Place house just of West Palisade Avenue, Detective Capt. Timothy Torell said Sunday night.
“Had a firefighter been injured dousing the fire, or if the fire had spread from the vehicle to a home in that densely populated area, we could have had a real tragedy here,” Torell told Daily Voice.
Detectives discovered from the registered owner that her 18-year-old son was having problems with another Englewood teen, he said.
The Bergen County Sheriff’s Bureau of Identification collected evidence that indicated arson, Torell said.
Within days, city detectives identified 26-year-old Ryan Miller of Dumont — the accused getaway driver — as a suspect, the captain said. READ MORE….
ABOVE: Charlene Scott, Michael DeFreese, Heather Ives, Ryan Miller (MUGSHOTS: Courtesy ENGLEWOOD PD)
