Police say they're unable to link Westmoreland County arson to James Sever

The Pennsylvania State Police's fire marshal unit in Greensburg is offering a reward for information that leads to an arrest in connection with a suspicious fire in August.

The fire happened in Salem Township, Westmoreland County, at a home where James Sever once lived before he was evicted.

Sever was arrested in September and charged with attempted homicide after allegedly admitting to state police that he placed a homemade explosive under his landlord's lawnmower in July. Sever also allegedly admitted to explosives that were found on the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Irwin in August.

Trooper Steve Limani with state police in Greensburg said the fire is the last piece of the puzzle in the investigation.

"I think that the general public kind of made a presumption on who started the fire, and during the course of our investigation, it's not very clear right now," Limani said. "We don't have what I would consider a suspect, and it's definitely an arson case, where this fire started. There's no electricity, there was no combustibles. There's no reason for the fire to have started where it did without somebody potentially starting the fire."

Limani told KDKA-TV that it's suspicious that Sever allegedly admitted to troopers about the pipe bombs but has claimed his innocence when it comes to the fire.

"We were unable to link this particular crime to [Sever] and that would lend itself to believe that there's a potential that it could have been somebody else," Limani said. "There's definitely some doubt that can be planted in his [Sever's] willingness or wanting to or having a motive to actually do it."

Limani said that doubt comes with the fact that it's believed that Sever thought his landlord, Dave Martin, died in the lawnmower explosion.

"His lack of knowledge of this person surviving that particular incident I think is also a reason why it would be less likely for that individual to go back to that location," Limani said.

KDKA-TV talked to Martin this week about the case, and he pointed fingers at Sever for the fire.

"I absolutely believe that it was him that burned my house down," Martin said. "I know when a certain tenant becomes so volatile and explosive that if they can't live there, they don't want anybody else to live there."

Martin said he believes Sever started the fire by also basing the fact on where the fire started in the home.

"It didn't start upstairs. It started where he was living, and that's why I'm saying it had to be him," Martin said.

State police said another tenant also lived in the home at the time but was at work when flames broke out.

"That individual had lost almost all their items, has been displaced," Limani said. "They had no reason to be a part of anything to do with starting the fire. The fire didn't start in a place in his home. It started in the abandoned area that was formerly known as Mr. Severs residence."

KDKA-TV asked Martin if he thought it was odd that Sever allegedly admitted to the explosives but not to the fire.

"Give him time," Martin said. "You give that man time, and he will admit. He will admit it. You give him time. He's a bragger, and I know all this stuff from history. You give him time and he'll admit it."

Martin said Sever was holding a grudge against him since informing him of the eviction.

"He told me, he said, 'You're gonna get yourself hurt,'" Martin said. "And he tried to kill me. He put two five-gallon jugs of gasoline beside the pipe bomb and the lawn mower and when I got on the mower, I'm like, 'I don't remember. I wouldn't have parked this mower when it was hot, right up against those jugs of gasoline.' And when I got off the mower and I moved those five gallon cans of gas, and actually, it's just by the grace of God that the shrapnel from that pipe bomb didn't hit the jugs of gasoline, they blew holes in the wall of my garage big enough to put a football through there sideways. But I think it was Sever's intention that I go up in a huge fireball."

Martin said while the investigation continues, he's trying to find a way to move forward and trying to decide what to do with the property.

"I went by that house every year for 25 years," he said. "I'm like, 'What a magnificent house sitting on that small hill,' and had those pillars on the front porch, and it was just a magnificent house. The estimator for the insurance company says $952,000 to build that house back again, and I can't afford to build it back again. I don't know, in the end, what's going to happen there as far as the replacement of the house."

Limani said police don't believe there is any ongoing threat in the area.

"[Sever's] in custody right now," Limani said. "Maybe [the public will be] more apt to come forward. Hence the idea of reaching out through the PA Tips to see if we can provide an up to $2,000 reward for any information that would lead to the arrest of the person that actually committed the arson. So, if you're out there and you have information about this, we'd love to have you come forward to try and help tie all the loose ends around this whirlwind of an investigation that took place all along that 22 corridor in Salem township in the New Alexandria area."