The Patrick County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a suspected arson case at DeHart Park in Stuart.
The gazebo in the Hospice Memorial Garden of DeHart Park was destroyed in the blaze that Sheriff Dan Smith estimated occurred between Sunday night and Monday morning.
“We would ask anybody in the local town that was driving by the park” that night “if they saw anything that’s pertinent to give the sheriff’s office a call,” said Travis Murphy, director of the county’s Parks and Recreation Department.
Murphy said authorities came to the park around 9:30 a.m. on Monday, April 8 to start investigating the incident.
“Where the gazebo’s located, it’s kind of tucked away in the park, it was kind of hard to see. Based on the limited information I had, it should have been pretty visible from the road when it was on fire,” he said.
Volunteers spent numerous hours trying to maintain the area and the gazebo, Murphy said.
“One way or another, as soon as we can, we’re going to get it cleaned up and repaired and replaced, and that area will look brand new. We’re going to make sure we put something back in there because it was just a valuable piece of land in an area that’s really important,” he said.
Murphy noted that hundreds of people’s names are imprinted on the bricks of the walking path that leads to the Memorial Garden. Many visitors go to the park throughout the year just to see the names.
“A lot of the community members were walking just yesterday afternoon and walked over there when the sun was out Sunday afternoon,” Murphy said. “Now, it’s gone.”
Setting the gazebo on fire was a selfish act, Murphy said.
“It’s just one of those things that they need to think before they do,” he said of the perpetrator or perpetrators.
An arson investigator with the Virginia State Police is assisting in the investigation, according to Smith, who is asking anyone with information about the incident to call him at (276) 692-7012 or Investigator Oscar Tejeda at (276) 222-0460.
A reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest of those responsible.
(Photos by Pat Delaney)
