Man Sprays Lighter Fluid On Joliet East Side House: Cops

JOLIET, IL — Michael Southall will remain behind bars at the Will County Jail after prosecutor Katie Rabenda revealed that the 32-year-old Joliet man who lives in his van tried to burn down his child's family's house in the 1400 block of East Cass Street on Dec. 29.

A Will County judge determined that Southall must remain incarcerated as he awaits his trial. A total of 11 charges were filed against Southall, including attempted residential arson, three counts of aggravated domestic battery, attempted arson, aggravated battery, three counts of domestic battery, aggravated assault and resisting arrest.

According to the petition to deny pretrial release submitted by Rabenda, the following events led to Southall's arrest on Friday by Will County Sheriff's deputies:

First, Southall was already on pretrial release for a felony retail theft from August by Joliet police. Then, this past Friday, Southall "was in his van in the driveway watching a movie with the 15-year-old when defendant became upset that the child didn't want to stay with the defendant in his van over Christmas break," Rabenda revealed. Southall told his teenage child he "he was going to burn ... (the child's) house down and kill him and his mother."

The woman later saw Southall "spraying the house with lighter fluid and attempting to ignite a lighter," the petition noted. "She approached him, and he sprayed her with the lighter fluid and attempted to set her on fire. She grabbed the lighter and broke it."

Southall grabbed the woman by her throat and started choking her, and she "almost lost consciousness multiple times. She was able to break free and run into the residence," the prosecutor outlined.

Southall chased after her and "he threw her to the ground in the kitchen and began to choke her again with both hands," Rabenda noted. The son hit Southall in the head, causing Southall to let her go as he grabbed the boy around the neck with both hands, "causing difficulty breathing but no loss of consciousness," court records indicate.

Authorities informed the judge that Southall grabbed a knife and told the woman he would stab her, just as the sheriff's deputies arrived on the scene.

The sheriff's deputies drew their weapons and ordered Southall to drop the butcher knife in his hand, and he refused to do so, telling them to shoot him, the prosecutor noted.

The deputies tasered Southall twice and "Deputy Mark Tokarz told the defendant to put his hands behind his back repeatedly, which the defendant refused to do, instead tucking them under his stomach as he laid face down and struggled with deputies as they tried to get his hands out from underneath him," court documents state.

Meanwhile, the 71-year-old homeowner told sheriff's deputies that Southall has not lived at her house for about two years, and she saw him spraying the lighter fluid on the outside of her house through her camera. The woman also saw Southall trying to strangle her daughter in the kitchen, and Southall grabbed the knife threatening to kill them, the prosecution stated.