Police search for homeowner after 'suspicious' fire
Dec. 8—Police want to talk to the owner of a home that caught fire Tuesday, but they haven't found him yet.
Boone County Sheriff's Deputy Sgt. Jonathan Barnes was driving by on other business just after 8 p.m. when he saw heavy smoke rolling from the house at 6110 N. Ind. 39. Barnes looks at the house north of Ind. 47 every time he passes because local police have been called there numerous times in recent years.
Barnes thought Steven Huckleberry was home and ran into the burning house to rescue him, Boone County Sheriff's Detective Lt. Jason Reynolds said.
No one answered Barnes' calls, and smoke eventually drove him outside. No one was reported injured by the fire.
"This fire is under investigation for a number of reasons, and is being considered as a possible arson," Reynolds said.
The Thorntown Sugar Creek Volunteer Fire Department is also investigating with aid from the Indiana Fire Marshal's Office.
Firefighters searched the home for survivors, and later for victims, finding neither. But they left and called a bomb squad when they found a box marked "dynamite," according to Boone County Communications Center records.
They're familiar with Huckleberry, 56, from previous dealings. In a September 2018 call, Huckleberry claimed an armed gunman was holding him and his teen daughter hostage in their home after a car deal gone wrong.
The Boone County Special Response and Crisis Negotiation teams rushed to the home. Armed SRT members in full gear helped the girl escape through a window. They found no intruder.
In October 2018, he reported two intruders police never found, but answered the door with a methamphetamine pipe peeking from his pants pocket, police reported.
He pleaded guilty in March 2019 to possession of meth and has since pleaded guilty to crimes including carrying a handgun without a license and criminal recklessness with a deadly weapon. He has a pending case on a charge of resisting law enforcement.
So police on Tuesday took a box marked "dynamite" as a potentially serious threat and called experts in to detonate it or determine what it was.
"He has a history of violence," Reynolds said. The Indianapolis Metropolitan Bomb Squad determined the box held wood that was "made up to look like dynamite," Reynolds said.
U.S. Bank and Trust National Association in November moved to foreclose on Huckleberry's house, according to court records. No decision has been reached in that case.
Anyone with information regarding the fire or the whereabouts of Huckleberry may call 765-482-1412 and press option 4 to speak with a dispatcher.
