A Bartow County man is on the loose after allegedly setting two homes and trucks on fire. It all began at his own residence on Cedar Creek Road in Cartersville on Monday morning.
His wife stated that she and her husband Randy Weaver had been in an argument over who owned their truck. During the argument, Weaver got in the truck, ran through a small fence in their yard, and ran into the porch.
The wife was inside the residence between five to ten minutes after Weaver left when she smelled burning plastic. She looked outside and noticed the plastic lattice around the porch on fire.
Just after this incident, Bartow County deputies and fire personnel were dispatched to a residence just over a mile away on Dogwood Lane in Cartersville in reference to a possible domestic incident and fire.
One of the residents there stated that his live-in girlfriend, Johnnie Houston, went in that morning and began accusing him and their roommate of having an affair. Houston’s brother, Randy Weaver, arrived and both Houston and Weaver moved and threw items inside the residence before Weaver left. The complainant said a short time later, Houston hit the roommate and walked out of the house yelling “we are going to burn the house down with y’all in it.
The complainant followed Houston outside and saw Weaver set his wife’s truck on fire with a flame thrower and roll the fiery truck into the complainant’s truck, causing that to cause fire. The complainant also saw Weaver set the side of the porch on fire before leaving the area.
The roommate corroborated the complainant’s story. She had swelling and bruising to her right eye. After putting out the fires at the residence, Bartow County fire personnel then went to Weaver’s residence on Cedar Creek Road to manage that fire.
Neither Randy Weaver nor Johnnie Houston have been arrested. Weaver has been charged with two counts of arson in the first degree and two counts of arson in the second degree. Houston has been charged with one count of battery and two counts of terroristic threats and acts.