MASON CITY – The Mason City Fire Department responded to a call of a house fire early Sunday morning.
At 3:29 a.m., firefighters were at 30 15th Street NE. The house was totally engulfed in flames.
Mason City police said Sunday in a press release that “as officers responded, they were advised that the fire had been intentionally started by a man that lived at the address.”
It is believed that at least two people resided at that address; a woman and her boyfriend. Both were out of the house. Officers took Bachig Cornelious, age 23, into custody in connection with the fire. Cornelious was booked into the county jail and charged with arson in the second degree, a class C felony. He was also charged with domestic assault, a serious misdemeanor; possession of a controlled substance, a serious misdemeanor; and possession of drug paraphernalia, a simple misdemeanor.
“That’s my nieces house,” a witness at the scene told NIT reporter Jody Spear. “I just got home from the hospital and saw the house on fire. I live across the street. Then I saw her boyfriend run into the street saying, ‘She deserved it, she deserved it.’ The couple apparently were arguing, so he started the house on fire,” said the victim’s aunt in disbelief.
One of the concerns the firefighters had was that the house fire was close to Mason City Lumber, located just west of the fire, on North Federal Avenue. It didn’t look like any harm was done to that building.
The Mason City Police Department was directing traffic on North Federal, putting up barricades, and ensuring people’s safety.
“He wasn’t drunk, he did this sober,” said a neighbor, who was visiting the residence at the time of the incident. “I poured him one drink. They started arguing. It was just a verbal fight. To avoid anymore arguing, she went next door to get away from him for a while.”
Firefighters were on the roof of the house. The holes that were cut released more smoke and flames. They proceeded to put the fire out, then went inside to investigate.
Fire Chief Bob Platts was at the scene as well.
“Why would someone do that?!,” exclaimed the witness, again. “He felt neglected, so he starts a fire? Why would he do that?” It was explained that he felt neglected because she wouldn’t talk to him. She didn’t want to argue anymore.”
It was also said that a dog perished in the blaze.
The following information was given to NIT later Sunday morning: A person familiar with the female victim “was just up talking to the girl and her mom. The guy did throw the dog in the fire and the dog is dead. The girl has it in the back of her van.”
Jody Spear and Kelley Meyer contributed to this story and took the photos and video.
SUBJECT IS INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY
Watch video:
Isn’t this the second time this has happened right there? Is this the same guy that got away with it a few years ago. He threw a dog back in the burning house then too. They let him off with a fine and this is what happens. I don’t think it is Hardy’s fault the guy is a criminal. Until we get control of the imports this is going to keep happening.
I don’t think that man had any idea wat he was doin n his right mine… But I do know that dog that was in the house wasn’t thrown back in there.. He loved that dog truly.. No excuses for wat he did.. No one deserves that to happen.. He was probably just thinking about him slef an wanted a way out from all the bad…
Funny that Russ Hardy is getting all the blame for this. My husband and I own many properties in MC as well and yes, we can rent to whoever we choose to. And guess what…you have the right to purchase a house and rent it out at well…it isn’t that hard and it isn’t rocket science. Just because someone owns several properties doesn’t mean they are rich…it is our livelihood and we deal with sh*tty tenants all the time. You can’t always tell if someone is going to pay rent or trash your house (or burn it down) by a standard application form. Russ did not bring this person to town nor did he tell this person to start this house on fire.
After reading all the comments on this page, I more concerned about the prejudice and hatred in this community…not so much about those who are moving here. Open your eyes, stop your whining and if you don’t like it here…move. Maybe if your lucky, we will serenade you with a rousing number of 76 Trombones on your way out of town…but hurry on your way before you end up with a cornet in your a@@.
That’s all…
If the thought of Mason City Lumber going up scares you what about Huber Supply. Bet the Wonder bread store would leave town smelling like burnt toast for awhile.
It’s just a matter of time before an innocent child gets caught in the crossfire and is killed. Will this be YOUR child? (And no, you don’t have to live on the north end for this to happen. Druggies are everywhere!)
How do we get these people out of our city?
This state needs an animal abuser registry.
Mason City could clean up these houses that are magnets for trash if they would inspect them and fail them if they do not pass code or have junk sitting around. They could condemn them If they aren’t brought up to code and raze them. That’s how Oelwein started to clean up their town to get rid of the druggies. Read the book Methland to see how they did it.
“….. and get the drugs out of Mason City.”
Better not let Peter L. hear that, he wants the drugs to stay in Mason City.
Wow…the nerve that some people have in this town. I just don’t understand what could drive someone to start their own girl friends house on fire? And then to top this all off, he put her INNOCENT dog in there!!! Who the hell does that?! I’ve met the girl friend a few times before..and the this man. The girlfriend isn’t the best person in the world…but NO ONE should deserve this to happen to them. Especially since she has children, two of them I’m pretty sure. That’s terrible and I hope this man gets ALL of the charges he can possibly get. God bless this family and hope everything gets better over time! <3
I think everyone needs to help each other out instead of worrying about skin color or where they come from. Group together instead of fighting against one another and get the drugs out of Mason City.
We are trying to group together and get the drugs out of the city. The majority of the violence and drugs right now comes from the blacks that have moved here from bigger, more violent cities. Thats just a fact. We would still be having this conversation if the tables were turned and it was a different nationality causing and doing these things.
what facts?
I would like to know if a community can put a limit on their low income housing and if so how. If a city starts to show problems with too much crime and not enough law enforcement what should city leaders do?
When govt gives “grants” for low income housing can the city say no thanks, not right now until we can figure out what is wrong? Who is applying for the grants?
As far as the landlords, can a city limit Section 8 vouchers?
Let’s face it MC has been touting their homeless shelters and food kitchens with providing evening meals, etc. People tout the food bank and it is good that we provide for people in need but when you go full bore and these services become a big industry in the city it is kind of like “if you build it they will come”
Very good questions and points across the board. I am not a lawyer but would be very interested to hear those questions answered by someone with knowledge of the law. VERY interested. Something has to be done, that seems like a decent, legal first step.
Well, once again we have to drag the poor, innocent animals into it. Whatever goes on between this freak and his girlfriend is their problem. Why drag the poor dog into it? So, I say tie him to a pole out in the yard and set him on fire and then laugh. See how he likes it. If they would do to these people what they do to the animals, perhaps they would think twice. The laws do nothing with these people and these are God’s creatures just like people are. The woman will probably take this freak back, too, as they always do. Can this town ever attract a different kind of tenant? Oh no, not as long as we have the slum lords like Russ Hardy. They need to burn down most of his properties and that would clean the town up.
People commenting about the Klan, and radical racial comments are just people’s way of showing how frustrated the good citizens are with what’s going on in Mason City. It’s gotten out of hand, the drugs, the low income housing that provides these drug dealers a place to reside and do their business, and all the welfare. It’s out of hand. Look at the smaller communities around us. There’s not alot of this going on. There’s some communities that don’t have low income housing, right there that’s one way to eliminate some of the problems. I think that’s where we need to start. Making landlords accountable and make them keep their properties up to codes, and ensure proper screening of possible tenants. And yes, reporting crime to the police, no that that is going to nip anything, the poor police force is overloaded with this nonsense. But it’s time for the good citizens of this community to do something to make a change. Any suggestions?
I dont have a suggestion, but I do have a comment. I just read please inform’s comment and it brought up a lot of good questions. If any one with knowledge of the law could answer them I think it would be a great start.
And I’m willing to bet as long as Russ Hardy has all the money he’ll ever need he’ll be able to do whatever he wants. Isn’t there some type of petition or SOMETHING we could do to stop the major slumlords in this town from doing this?
Hardy’s properties are all public record on cerro gordo county online. http://www.co.cerro-gordo.ia.us/property_search/qry_property.cfm?the_start=1&eName=hardy, russ Looks to be at least a hundred properties. I’ve heard he rents to anybody as long as they have the money or on HUD (guarenteed rent)
Why does all this ugly sh*t come from a particular minority in Mason City? Mason City has issues, you people pissing off the minorities? Where are you importing these fine f-in citizens from?
Whatever happened to the phrase “Mason City, we like it here”? I was always told that its citizens we a tolerant and accepting bunch. Or was that just a lie?
I wrote something last week for which I got ripped on but I will say it again. It’s time to call for Martial Law in Mason City. Crime is TOTALLY out of control and the MCPD is in WAY over their heads. Crime is winning and the MCPD is losing. Or am I wrong about the MCPD?
Go ahead; rip me all you want to. Let crime win. Keep on living in fear for the next shoe to drop. We all know that something has to be done before its too late; which I feel it already is.
You are not wrong.
If u want someone to agree with u about something needing to be done, I’ll agree with u. If u want someone to rip on u about martial law, I’m that guy too. Things are messed up but no where near bad enough for martial law. Not sure your using common sense at all. Do u even have any knowledge what martial law is and what warrants it? Clearly not. HOWEVER, I am with u when it comes to your passion about caring for your community. I admit I don’t have the answer but as long as our judicial system is weak in accountability, we will always have a problem. I would like to see a VERY large group of citizens camp out and protest in front of court house and send the message to the county attorney that we are demanding some change. The power of the majority is what it is going to take. If we don’t ban together and get organized, nothing will change. We need to force our leaders to make the change. We only need a leader to champion the cause. Are you the one?
First of all the screen name is my nickname nothing else ment by it. We do not need the KKK here to take care of OUR problems. What we need are OUR citizens standing up to the influx of criminals and derilicts that have migrated here and the home grown ones as well. We need to report what we know, suspect and see to the police. And then we need to hold the criminal justice system accountable to get rid of the problems. If it does not then we need to fix it. Trust me these problems that came here are not going to try very hard to stay, if we make it tough on them they will move on to easier places. Why do you think they ended up here anyways, not all went to NIACC and not all the did go to NIACC are bad either. Dirtbags you’re being put on notice. GET OUT OF OUR TOWN!
that should read “not all that did go to NIACC”. sorry
Bring the klan in? WTF is wrong with you Anonymous?
Matt why do you allow trash like this to comment with such HATE?
@Nothing: If the Klan decided to march here in good old River City, we would not be able to ignore them. Obviously, allowing the group to be mentioned in a post is not the same as endorsing the group or standing behind it. Nazis are also mentioned in posts around the internet. I don’t want to go too far down the road of censorship. Let’s allow these people to speak; they could be our neighbors. We need to learn what is in our midst in order to change things.
I commend you Matt. Although I believe the comment was radical and insane…it is the right of the poster. The 1st Ammendment should ring a bell to all. I don’t like the comment myself but to deny it would be to deny a freedom that our country was built on. I wish there wasn’t the jump to racist and hatefully thought processes here…this was the work of one POS human that happened to be black. Let’s try and look at the individual and not the color.
Yo nothing, face it, you don’t have to peruse this site. If your a female and 76 you should watch The Sound of Music in stead.
Bring the Klan in Anonymous wtf is wrong with you and Matt why would you allow such hate on this blog.
Haha I hope it was a stupid pit bull that he killed
What an idiotic, ignorant & hateful comment!!! More like this POS should have let the dog run loose & torched himself up in that house!!! WTF is your deal???
Maybe he wanted a hot-dog !!!
This ordeal was violent & horrific – NOT A JOKING MATTER!!! GROW UP!!!!
Do the landlords have any PRIDE??? Are they the real bad citizens here for allowing this situation???
Very good question. Do these slumlords even require references of any kind, or do they know off the bat that it will be government checks footing the bill?
RUSS HARDY OWNED THE SHIT HOLE! HE WILL RENT TO ANYBODY!
Typical story of trash moving in, and not caring about ANYTHING other than the basics such as being able to eat each day and finding their drugs and a woman to beat on. This guy has probably never worked a real job in his life and has no care or responsibility in the world in regards to just doing $40,000 in damage or so because he was mad at his girlfriend. I’m sure the federal government will pick up the cost of fixing that house too, along supplying the monthly welfare checks.
Abusing and/or killing pets is a tactic that many abusers use. The murder of the dog is tragic, but my hope is that this man will also be held accountable for domestic abuse.
Russell Hardy owns this one, according to the county.
Russel Hardy is a douche bag scumlord. He does not want to fix a thing with his rat trap houses. I know this to be a fact, because I know of someone who once lived two houses west of where this house is. The city should be looking into the fire codes of those crappy houses, to see if they are structurally sound, and up to code. I bet they are not, and if they are they are absolute basic minimum. The horseshoe as it is commonly referred to is a shit hole, and should be torn down at scumbag’s expense.
I meant to say two houses ‘east’ and not ‘west’. I’m glad I’m not the only one who is so upset…that they made mistakes in their comments…. by thugs ruining what used to be a good city, until it all went to the DARK SIDE. And Mason City is known as a ‘Little Chicago”, heck you can come to River City and commit any crime and get away with it.
NEWS FLASH IRISH KNIGHT MASON CITYS BEEN KNOWN AS LITTLE CHICAGO SINCE THE 40’S … IT GOT BETTER FOR A WHILE BUT ITS RIGHT BACK TO BAD. I KIND OF AGREE WITH PETER; I DONT REMEMBER SEEING AS MANY PEOPLE OF COLOR GROWING UP AS THERE IS NOW. IF NIACC WOULDN’T HAVE HAD ANY FOOTBALL, OR OUR LOVELY GOVERNMENT WOULDNT PAY PEOPLE TO MOVE HERE, THE NUMBER WOULD STILL BE LOW.
The cops need to put these bastards away for good or put them 6 feet under. What a p.o.s! Nice smirk in his pic! Hope he gets beat for what he did to the dog!
It’s common knowledge who the good people and the bad people are in the north end. Sad to say but the out of town blacks who run drugs freely and do whatever the hell they want to in this town do it because they know they can and get away with it. Plain and simple. Ask the black who fired a round into a car full of people. He didnt even spend the night in jail. A lot worse happens in the north end and other parts of town than just drug dealing, but nobody wants to hear about that. Ten years from now they will have put a circle around this town like a noose and we’ll just be a little Detroit. It’s already starting to happen.
Address in story is wrong. It’s northeast.
i saw this all happen and they were laughing about it as if it were no big deal, she commented who cares we have renter’s insurence and will get help from the red cross, hell i wished they all would have gone up, it would better our town and be less drugs around the north end of town, the only thing sad about it is a dog died
I am pretty sure that she wasn’t laughing. She was crying hysterically and saying they lost everything! Now a mother and her 2 boys are homeless and with out a single thing. How dare you try and say they are taking this situation like it’s a joke.
you make me sick to think of this woman as a mom, she’s a stupid bitch that dont desevre kids you don’t bring alcohol and drugs around your kids and fight with you sob to the point were he sets your home on fire, dhs should take those kids and show them a real family. i’m glad she lost it all think of those poor kids
Im not really sure that she would be smart enough to buy renters insurance, even at $12-$15 bucks a month. Even if she was, dont think it would cover ARSON. Thats the only way that the fire could have started, since she had no electricity, because she didnt pay her bill. Her food stamps she sold for half price werent quite enough to get that taken care of.
And the crack dealer she sold them to gets to eat steak.
This just proved my point months ago about the part of town known as the “north end”. It is full of crime, drugs, social deviants and it’s no wonder the law abiding citizens do not want to live there anymore. It’s time for a major clean up of northern Mason City. Killing a dog, setting fire to a house, threatening the livelihoods of the people who work at the lumberyard and who live adjacent to those other houses should get life in jail…with no benefits. Hard labor, stale bread and warm water to drink. Make prison impossible to adjust to, and see if these idiots want to keep going back. Citizens of Mason City, especially the north end had better wake up before it’s too late. Your part of town is going down the toilet at a rapid pace.
Uuummm…the article said this happened at 15th street SOUTH EAST. That’s not exactly the “north end”…
Yes I typed an “S” instead of an “N” … my mistake, it is corrected. Thanks for pointing out.
“One of the concerns the firefighters had was that the house fire was close to Mason City Lumber, located just west of the fire, on North Federal Avenue. It didn’t look like any harm was done to that building” um think this is the north end so there is a screw up some where
GET OUT WE DONT WANT YOU PEOPLE HERE DONT YOU GET IT? GET OUT NOW!GO BACK TO WHERE YOU CRAWLED OUT FROM UNDER. TRASH!
Half them kinda people can’t read and none of them have the internet so you better put your message in print somewhere.
I AGREE Anonymous! LETS GET THIS GARBAGE OUT OF TOWN. THEY ALL COME HERE TRYING TO TAKE OVER OUR CITY, A CITY WE GREW UP IN. MOST PEOPLE ARE SCARED TO COME OUT OF THEIR HOUSE ANYMORE. THIS GUY KILLS A INNOCENT DOG AND THEY CANT ADD THAT CHARGE ON? CRAP! IT SEEMS THE MCPD IS WANTING A RIOT TO COME OF ALL OF THIS. THEY WOULDNT KNOW HOW TO HANDLE A RIOT!
Maybe that is what it will take to make them leave. I been thinking the same thing since al these crackheads, dealers, and rats, showed up in this town. I think it’s time
It really has come to about that point. Maybe not right now, but soon. Sooner or later something has to give. They are like locust’s and roaches, and they just keep coming and coming, infesting this town.
I agree, maybe some vigiliantism is what this town needs. I for one am sick and tired of the crack head Detroit and Chicago losers coming to my town dealing their drugs. I am sick and tired of their kids that have no respect for anyone and treat other kids like crap, treat the teachers like crap. I’ve tried very hard not to be a racist person, but I am tired of all this nonsense in MY town! And yes I will call it MY town. I’ve lived here my whole life, worked here, pay taxes, etc. What do these people do? Deal drugs. Take it out of MY town! Maybe a little cross burning is in order.
He will be back on the street before the month is over. Animal abusers are the lowest form of scum there is. What goes round, comes round in it’s own good time…..
This guy should have been charged with animal cruelty & murder of an animal!!!! What an evil low life POS!!! DISGUSTING!!!!!!
HOW MAY LA COLORED PEOPLE ARE IN THIS TOWN? SO WE HAVE D BOYZ, CHICAGO BOYZ AND LA BOYZ… BRING THE KLAN IN!
Bring in the Klan? wow. you sound very educated. did you get that from people of walmart? you do realize what that would entail correct or are you not quite familiarized with the history of that whole “genre”? not EVERY person from those areas are bad people, some are very highly educated but its quite unfortunate that no one talks about the good in that. this is a pathetic incident that was singular to one person committing a stupid and henious crime but you just labeled and grouped a whole lot of people into that by your statement. think before you type.
Let me guess, Your name is “BUBBA” and we all have seen you on “THE PEOPLE OF WAL-MART” videos and slide shows.
Klan? We dont need them. Im sure our local Sons of Silence could do the job.
YOU ARE DEFINATELY A VERY IGNORANT INDIVIDUAL. BRING IN THE KLAN? YOU LOW LIFE SCUMBAGS THAT FEEL THIS WAY NEED TO BE THROWN IN THE SAME TRASH BAG THAT THESE DRUG DEALERS AND MURDERERS BELONG IN.
we gotta clean up this shit hole of a town!! this guy looks like he has a little “DOWNY” in him!!!
WHY DIDNT THE POLICE CHARGE THIS PUKE FOR ANIMAL ABUSE/TORTURE ON TOP OF ALL HIS CHARGES??? HE KILLED THAT POOR DOG INTENTIONALLY!!!!
I’M PISSED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The laws need to be tougher for animal abuse. If I ever seen someone abusing ANY animal I will step in to defend the animal. Our pets depend on us!
I hate to say this but why would anybody want to come to m.c ? inthe last month its been the city council and their strange ideas, shootings,stabbings, stores closings, and a guy throwing a dog in a fire, i don’t want to know what’s next.