IUPD investigating car arson in garage

Senior Justin Crossley parked his 1994 Mitsubishi Galant in the Jordan Avenue Parking Garage late last month when it encountered mechanical problems. Just a day before he was arranging to move it, Crossley is now without a car at all thanks to an apparent early Wednesday morning car arson.\nIU Police Department officers responded at about 6 a.m. after receiving a call about a vehicle engulfed in flames on the top level of the garage. Though no one was injured and the car was isolated in the lot from other vehicles, Crossley arrived at the scene to find his car ruined. \n"When I got to (the garage), the fire was already put out, but the car was utterly destroyed," Crossley said. "It was melted down and unrecognizable."\nIUPD officers recovered a book of matches, a lighter and several bottles of flammable liquid accelerant. IUPD Lt. Jerry Minger said he could not divulge what kinds of accelerants were used, but said they were readily available. \nMinger said it appears the suspect might have mixed the accelerants in a trash can lid, lit that on fire and then slid it beneath the car. That caused far more damage than if the car's exterior had been doused in gasoline and then lit, Minger said\n"If you sprayed it on the side of the car, you may do damage, but once it burns it off, it's gone," Minger said. "It wouldn't actually ignite. If you squirt a large amount of it beneath the car, it would keep burning like a grill."\nOfficers searched the area surrounding the Jordan Avenue garage and found the same accelerant materials, a lighter and another trash can lid outside of a black Nissan Xterra parked in the lot next to the IU Office of Admissions, 300 N. Jordan Ave. That car, however, had not been lit, Minger said. \nAs for Crossley, he said he's still arranging other transportation and doesn't know if his insurance will cover the damage.\n"It definitely dampens your spirits," he said. "I'm still sort of in shock. You don't really expect your car to be set on fire on campus in a parking garage. It's the last thing I thought would happen"