LOUDOUN COUNTY, VA — Testimony began Wednesday in the trial of a man accused of intentionally setting a Loudoun County townhouse fire that killed a neighbor and displaced eight residents.
Jacob Bogatin, 78, is charged with felony murder and arson in connection with the October 2025 fire on Riptide Square in Sterling. Madelaine Samantha Akers, 36, died in the fire.
Prosecutors claim Bogatin set fire to the townhouse where he had lived with his girlfriend and her mother two days after receiving an eviction order, LoudounNow reported. During opening statements Wednesday, prosecutors said security footage and cellphone data would be used to place Bogatin in the neighborhood around the time the fire started.
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The defense argued investigators focused on Bogatin early in the investigation and failed to adequately pursue other possibilities, according to LoudounNow. His attorneys maintain that he did not set the fire.
The fire broke out shortly after midnight Oct. 23, 2025, in the 20000 block of Riptide Square. Firefighters arrived to find several townhouses engulfed in flames.
Akers was found dead inside a neighboring home. Eight other residents were displaced, two townhouses collapsed, and a third sustained significant damage.
The Loudoun County Fire Marshal's Office determined the fire was intentionally set. Bogatin was arrested in December following an investigation by the fire marshal's office and Loudoun County Sheriff's Office.
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