Arsonist hacks off penis and uses it to set neighbour’s garage ablaze
A 36-year-old American man from Fort Wayne, Indiana, completed an extremely outlandish arson attack after allegedly cutting off his own penis and using it to light a blaze inside his neighbour’s garage.
Christopher Peden is facing a felony charge for arson, which carries a potential prison sentence of up to 12 years, for a fire that he started in May.
On May 6th, the Fort Wayne Fire Department was investigating a fire at a detached garage, while simultaneously the police were responding to a reported stabbing in the downtown area; both incidents, it would quickly turn out, were connected.
The garage owners stated that they had been woken by a neighbour who alerted them to the fire. They quickly realised that Peden had gone missing at the same time the blaze appeared to have started.
Peden told the police he “harmed himself” inside the Fort Wayne garage by “cutting off his penis” with a kitchen knife, according to Sky News.
Subsequently, the man doused his genitals in gasoline and “set it on fire on the floor of the garage just inside the door,” as per court documents cited by the station.
Initially, as law enforcement made it to the scene, Peden told police he was stabbed somewhere downtown and that someone had threatened him the day before.
However, while in hospital, Peden then admitted to investigators that he had been “dishonest” about the stabbing and “wanted to be truthful.”
He had allegedly used his own mutilated penis to set the garage ablaze and walked away before he encountered the police.
A fire investigator working at the scene of the crime located a gasoline container and four lighters, as well as a nearby kitchen knife. It is still unknown whether any genitals were discovered.
In other genital news, earlier this year, police in Iceland launched an investigation into a penis enlargement procedure after the surgery went horribly awry.