Keys marina fire investigation could take months, cops say
Investigators say it could be months before an arrest is made and charges are filed in a large Islamorada marina fire last week, which Monroe County’s sheriff says is likely a case of arson and insurance fraud.
The man detectives say lit the match that ended up destroying two large, dry-docked, boats and damaging a third remains in Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami with severe burns over nearly half his body. His injuries are so severe that Sheriff Rick Ramsay said last week he faces the possibility that his feet and hands will have to be amputated.
Sheriff’s office spokesman Adam Linhardt would not comment when asked if his injuries have prevented detectives from questioning him, but he said other aspects of the investigation will delay a quick conclusion.
“It’s going to be a lengthy investigation in terms of time,” said Linhardt, adding detectives aren’t expecting lab work they sent to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement collected from the early morning, Feb. 11, fire back for at least two months.
“It’s going to be one of those hurry up and wait cases,” Linhardt said.
Witnesses saw the man, engulfed in flames, running toward a pickup truck in the Coral Bay Marina parking lot around 12:45 a.m. that day. Two other men were seen with the man before and after the Double Agent, a 34-foot, triple outboard engine, Glacier catamaran, went up in flames.
The fire spread to two neighboring vessels — a 50-foot Sea Ray Express Cruiser and a 45-foot pontoon boat. The Sea Ray was destroyed. The pontoon boat, a snorkel tour boat that operates in John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, was badly damaged.
The men drove out of the Keys to a South Miami-Dade County home to change clothes before taking the burned man to Jackson. About five hours later, they called the sheriff’s office from the hospital to report the fire, which they said started accidentally when they were scrubbing the deck of the Double Agent with gasoline and paint thinner, Ramsay said during a local radio show interview last week.
They told cops the injured man lit a cigarette while standing on the back of the boat. When he threw the match, the wind blew it back on board the vessel, setting it alight, the men told investigators.
But Ramsay said detectives and the state Fire Marshal are leaning toward arson as the reason behind the fire. He said on the U.S. 1 Radio News show that “the owner had been trying to sell” the boat “for a long time, but it wasn’t moving.”
Police have only released the name of the owner of the Double Agent, Nicholas Toby John, 21. The only information known about the wounded man is he is 44 years old. The Double Agent was a charter fishing vessel that was docked at one time at Robbie’s Marina in Islamorada.
John could not be reached for comment. No one answered the phone number provided on the Double Agent’s Facebook page, and the call did not go to voicemail. Emails sent to the business’ address went unanswered.
This story was originally published February 21, 2019 at 6:51 PM.
