MANTI, Utah — FOX 13 News has learned the Ephraim City prosecutor is close to naming a suspect who they believe set fire to the home of a Sanpete County attorney while he and his family were inside.
From his office in Manti, Sanpete County Deputy Attorney Wes Mangum said Wednesday that officials have persons of interest in the case involving the home of Kevin Daniels.
"There’s been some Ring cameras that have helped point law enforcement to the right direction," Mangum shared.
At 3 a.m. on July 16, the family dog started barking, and Daniels' son, who was playing video games at the time, saw a flash of light, leading him to wake his father, who used a garden hose to extinguish flames on the front porch before firefighters could arrive.
Daniels, his wife, and three young children were inside the home at the time. A swastika and other vandalism were also found on their garage and SUV.
"It does have effects on [the family] when they lay their head down on their pillow," said Mangum. "Are we going to be woken up again?" Is somebody going to come again?"
Mangum credited Ephraim City police and their relentless work on the case.
"Going door to door on the case, seeing if anybody caught anything. Going to businesses, having security camera footage reviewed, really taking the time to look at the time frame as to when this allegedly happened and see what has happened during that time," he explained.
It's believed that Daniels' work led to this attack, which is unprecedented in the area.
"We do believe that there is a connection there," said Mangum. "[Daniels has] prosecuted somebody and either convicted them of crimes, put them behind bars a time or maybe many times. That’s the motive we can speculate on right now, especially when it’s related to work, prosecuting and holding people accountable for violating or breaking the law. A lot of times, people may be upset about that."
Mangum said two 5-gallon jugs of gas were lit with a road flare to start the fire, and while officials are awaiting results from the crime lab, it's believed they’re close to making an arrest.
"There’s not been anything that’s happened like this here in our jurisdiction, and I don’t recall around the state of Utah, where a prosecutor, at least recently, has been personally targeted or his home attacked. Unfortunately, across the country, public officials, it’s been more prevalent for them to be targeted and hopefully we can do some things to make that change."
