SPENCER – Authorities have charged a man accused of setting his house on fire Friday with his stepson inside.
Thomas Bernard Turner, 43, turned himself in and is charged with first-degree arson and assault with a deadly weapon. He was placed in the Rowan County Detention Center around 10:30 this morning under $50,000 bond; he has since made bond and been released.
Turner is accused of setting his home at 430 Steeplechase Trail on fire following a domestic dispute.
Sheena Hasty, Turner’s estranged wife, told the Post Saturday that her husband used a ladder to climb into their home through an upstairs window Friday afternoon.
Turner was carrying a handgun and forced her son and his friend into a bathroom before lighting the house on fire, she said.
The couple began divorce proceedings in September, but Hasty said she let Turner return to the home they had shared because he had nowhere else to go. She made him leave for good after another dispute Thursday.
Hasty’s son, Joseph Walker, said he was home when Turner returned on Friday and used a ladder to get into the house through a window. Walker said Turner forced him and a friend into a bathroom at gunpoint before shooting at property throughout the home then setting a fire.
When Spencer police arrived at the house, they found it in flames and immediately called the fire department.
Authorities obtained warrants for Turner on Sunday. Spencer Police Detective Nicholas Pacilio said Turner will likely face more charges.