Man hospitalized in house fire 2 years ago now charged with starting it
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IDAHO FALLS — An Idaho Falls man injured in a house fire two years ago has been charged with third-degree arson for allegedly starting that fire.
Talissa Larsen and Wayne Neslen were in the basement of a home on the 700 block of Terrance Drive when it caught fire on July 6, 2020. They were taken by ambulance to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center with severe burns.
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Later that day, Larsen told hospital staff Neslen “had poured gas on me,” according to an affidavit of probable cause.
Investigators spoke with Larsen the next day and she explained that she and Neslen had gotten into a fight and as she was throwing her dirty clothes into a basket, she said he poured gas on her.
“Talissa told me that she does not remember how she got lit,” the officer who filed the report wrote.
An investigator for Farm Bureau Insurance told police he determined the fire had started in a basement bedroom and that all the samples collected “were positive for the presence of gasoline.” He also said a butane lighter found in the corner of the room was used to start the fire.
Officers caught up with Neslen several months later because he was out of town. He told them he had been working on the air conditioner in the basement early the morning of the fire and there was a gas can down there. He said Larsen was not home at the time, but they watched TV together later and “got into it.” Neslen told the officer he didn’t remember what the argument was about.
The clothes then ignited, Neslen says in the police report, and he ran upstairs to get a hose. He went back down to get Larsen before getting out of the house.
“I asked Wayne where the gas can was and he had said that it was by the walkway but it could’ve been by the TV. I asked him if it was possible that he had the gas can in his hand, and he didn’t think so,” the officer wrote.
It’s unclear why charges were not filed until Feb. 4 of this year. Neslen was booked into the Bonneville County Jail and posted $25,000 bond on March 3. A preliminary hearing is scheduled on March 16.