Johannesburg - A suspected serial arsonist may have targeted a new Johannesburg suburb as he continues to elude police and private security companies in a crime spree that is terrorising the northern suburbs.
So far the use of helicopters, drones, increased night patrols and a lucrative reward have not resulted in the capture of the suspect, who now faces a murder charge following the death of a homeowner.
Risto Andjelopolj died on May 22, a month and half after he was assaulted and locked inside his Houghton home before it was set alight.
All authorities have are a handful of images of the man when he was caught on CCTV.
But a fire last Saturday in Hurlingham might be the suspected arsonist’s latest work.
The owners of the house were away at the time and a room was burnt.
“We can't with certainty say that it was the arsonist, but it fits the profile and modus operandi previously used by him,” said branch manager of Fidelity services group Josh Nel, whose security company is one of several that are trying to catch the arsonist.
Fidelity is offering a reward of R100 000 for any information that leads to the suspect’s arrest. It is believed that there was an alarm activation at the house at 9pm and that the fire started at 4am.
“It looks like it might be a location change, so he might be looking for different hunting grounds,” he added.
Andre Snyman, the founder of the community crime fighting organisation E-blockwatch, visited the house, but said there was no visible evidence that it was arson. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
If it turns out to be the work of the arsonist, he hasn’t travelled far from his usual hunting grounds. Many of the houses he is suspected of targeting are just a short drive up William Nicol Drive.
He is believed to have started 16 separate fires in suburbs that include Hyde Park, Rosebank, Benmore and Craighall Park, all of them in multimillion-rand houses.
He often evades alarm systems and spends hours in the house before starting a fire. At one of the houses, CCTV footage that is believed to be the suspect, shows him casually wandering around the kitchen with a pair of headphones around his neck.
The owners of the house were sleeping upstairs and only realised he had been in the house when they reviewed their security cameras.
On that occasion he didn’t start a fire.
He has also been known to eat food out of the fridge and urinate in bins.
At one of the suspected arson sites the suspect climbed on to the roof of the house and sat there for several hours drinking bottles of cider. He then allegedly broke a window and got into the house where he opened the fridge, took out a jar of sundried tomatoes and smeared the contents on the curtains. All before lighting a fire in one of the rooms.
The family were saved when the domestic worker noticed the fire and raised the alarm.
What investigators have been trying to work out is how the suspected arsonist travels to his crime scenes. His crimes are often done in the dead of night when there is no public transport.
“If he does have a vehicle, he is not parking it at the house, but at a strategic point,” said Nel. And if it is one guy he must have a form of transport, he can't be walking from Houghton to Bryanston.”
But for law enforcement the work of catching him continues, as they chase new leads and hope he finally slips up.
“We are looking at other ways of tracking down the suspect,” said Nel. “But we will continue our deployments, focusing on the night.”
Police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Mavela Masondo confirmed yesterday that a charge of murder had been added after Andjelopolj died. Police are still searching for the suspect.