Longboard may hold key to solving Parade of Homes arson

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SOUTH JORDAN — Police hope fragments of a longboard found in the rubble of a fire that destroyed a Salt Lake Parade of Homes house and an adjacent house will lead them to the person responsible.

On July 11, two homes under construction in the area of 9744 S. Lazy Water Cove (1000 West) were destroyed. One house, which was still in the framing stage, was quickly engulfed in flames. The heat from that fire spread to a neighboring house, which was nearly completed.

That home was valued at more than $1 million and was to be included in the Parade of Homes. Neither house was occupied. Investigators determined the cause of the fire was arson.

Now, investigators hope pieces of a longboard found in the remains will be the key to cracking the case.

"It was actually really great work by our investigators. There literally were just fragments of that board left. And they were able to, just by going around to all the local skate shops, they found a guy that — from a quarter-inch of the graphic that was left — was able to tell them what the make and model of the board was," said South Jordan Police Lt. Matt Pennington.

Based on the unique green graphic fragment, an employee at Salty Peaks was able to identify it as a Landyachtz Switchblade 38. Pennington said once detectives saw what the board looked like, they could immediately see a match between the graphic on the board and the fragment they had.

Salty Peaks told police they had only sold 11 of those boards, Pennington said. Although police did not get records from every skate shop in Salt Lake County, they are hoping that it is rare enough that someone will recognize it.

Because of the longboard, and because of surveillance video from a nearby house, police believe the suspect, or a person who has information about the arsonist, is a young boy, possibly in his early teens. In the surveillance video, a young boy is seen longboarding, heading in the direction of the homes that burned. A short time later, the boy is seen running back in the direction he came — without his board.

Pennington said investigators believe the individual may live in the surrounding area of 9600 South and 1300 West.

As of Thursday, police believed the person who set the fire may not have intended to destroy both homes.

"That's kind of where we're leaning toward. Just because of leaving the board and all that, our thought is it probably wasn't intentional. Our thought is he was in there playing around, something got out of control, and obviously he had to leave in a hurry. And so, that's kind of our theory. If that's the case, we understand accidents happen. But we need him to come forward so we can have a conversation, explain what the options are," Pennington said.

Anyone with information about the fire or anyone who knows someone who had that style of skateboard is asked to call the South Jordan Police Department at 801-840-4000.