Man accused of killing neighbor over property line dispute, Missouri police say
A man is accused of killing his 66-year-old neighbor and setting her house on fire Monday night in Springfield, Missouri, authorities said.
Police determined that earlier Monday night, the two had been arguing about a fence’s location in relation to a property line, according to the Springfield News Leader.
Firefighters responded to the burning home off Alice Hale and after entering her home, she was found dead, according to a news release from the Springfield Police Department. Fire and police investigators determined that the 66-year-old woman died from injuries not related to the fire.
A probable cause statement said Hale had severe head injuries and that a baseball bat was found in the kitchen, according to the News Leader.
Police interviewed neighbors and discovered that Hale had been in “a heated argument earlier that evening” with Pavel Samsinak, a man who owned a vacant lot next to Hale’s house, according to a probable cause statement obtained by News-Leader. The property line dispute apparently dealt with a privacy fence that Samsinak had recently erected— possibly on Hale’s property.
Police arrested Samsinak on Wednesday and found a can of gas in his truck and noticed blood on his front door, KY3 reported.
Family members were interviewed by officials and said that Hale, a retired public schools custodian, had lived her whole life in the Springfield neighborhood.
“Why, pretty much the big question is why,” said John Hale, Hale’s nephew, according to KY3. “Especially, as they said it’s suspicious. She wasn’t a bad person. She’d tell you exactly what she thought. She wasn’t afraid to smack you in the mouth if you got out of line. ...she was not a spare the rod and spoil the child kind of woman. But she was very loving.”
Samsinak is being held without bail at the Greene County Jail on charges of second-degree murder, second-degree arson, armed criminal action and evidence tampering, prosecutors said in the news release said.
The News-Leader reported that Samsinak has a long history of disputes with neighbors including displaying a gun to one because “he didn’t like the way the neighbor walked.”