UPDATE: Inquest jury says Foglesong murdered

Ivan "Bud" Foglesong was killed by another person — and it was not an accident, a Glenn County coroner's jury ruled Tuesday afternoon in Superior Court.

"We're thrilled with the verdict," Jan Foglesong, widow of the victim, said Tuesday afternoon.

The decision comes after a lengthy, contentious battle for the Foglesong family to change the direction of the arson investigation that originally concluded that Foglesong was both a victim of the fire and responsible for starting it.

The Foglesong family has sharply criticized that conclusion, arguing their patriarch had no motive and nothing to gain by destroying the cabin, which sits on a large ranch that is shared with extended family.

Foglesong, 59, died of injuries sustained hours after the small duck cabin he was standing inside near County Road 60 suddenly caught fire on July 21, 2007.

The Foglesongs believe the fire was another in a string of suspicious, harassing incidents directed at their family, which reportedly included multiple vehicle tire slashings prior to Bud Foglesong's death and an incident after his death in which a large "X" or cross was chemically burned into the family's front lawn.

Their theory is also based on the notion that Roy Holzapfel had motive to want Foglesong dead because of a pending criminal assault indictment that went away when Foglesong died.

The two men had reportedly fought in November 2006 and Foglesong, a pilot, was permanently injured.

Foglesong filed charges against Holzapfel with the state Attorney General's Office because Holzapfel is the son of Glenn County District Attorney Robert S. Holzapfel.

That fight and the other reported harassment were ancillary results of a decades-old land dispute within the family that has been simmering hotly since 1980.

Hearing officer Matthew P. Guichard called it "a toxic mix over estate issues" that lead to tremendous amounts of "bad blood" with the extended family.

Local and state investigators concluded that Foglesong had doused the cabin floor with gasoline, allowed an undetermined amount of time to lapse and then, after the gasoline vaporized, ignited the blaze causing a "flash fire," which is a quick, extremely hot burst of flame that enveloped him.

The Foglesongs hired their own fire investigators, who took issue with not only the investigator's apparent lack of experience, but also the methods and conclusions he reached.

Chief George Morris, the fire investigator from the state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, said he had only been with the arson investigation program for two months at the time of the cabin fire. However, he also noted that he had previously investigated nearly 100 fires and has since worked on an additional 50 such fires. Morris said Monday that he stands by the conclusions he reached in 2007.

However, Terry Taylor, one of two independent investigators hired by the Foglesongs, said Tuesday that Morris' investigation was "incomplete."

"Morris showed up knowing they had a fire with a suspicious injury and likely, by that point, a death," Taylor said. "And he spent less than four hours at the scene and did not return the next day to examine evidence in the daylight."

Both sides agree the fire was caused by arson and that gasoline was the accelerant used.

Taylor said he concluded that "someone - not Bud," started the fire earlier in the day, but it did not take off the way it was planned. The unnamed suspect poured gasoline on couches and the floor and left after lighting the gasoline.

Choked off by a lack of oxygen, the fire only smoldered for an undetermined amount of time, but "flashed" when Foglesong opened the cabin door and a sudden rush of oxygen entered the building, Taylor said.

Taylor said no evidence of any type of booby-trap was found, but quickly added that no one ever looked for any such evidence either.

Taylor acknowledged that it is "unlikely" the cabin was deliberately booby-trapped, as the Foglesongs have long-contended, because there would be no way to know for sure who might walk into the cabin that was frequently used by many family members and ranch hands as a bathroom stop.

Taylor said, based on the other reported destructive incidents surrounding the Foglesong family, he believes the cabin was set on fire as another type of "warning of some kind."

"There were just too many things going on for this to be an accident," Taylor said.

A slim majority of jurors also believed that Foglesong was not responsible for the blaze that eventually claimed his life and returned their 9-6 verdict after deliberating for just less than one hour.

It is not clear exactly where the case will go from here.

Sheriff Larry Jones had no comment following the verdict, but did say he had already planned to meet with his detectives and staff Wednesday morning regardless of the outcome to discuss the next step.

Jones said that possibly sending the case back to the state Department of Justice would be "an item for discussion."

The Foglesongs wept and hugged each other after the verdict was announced.

"I'm really happy," Foglesong's daughter, Ann, said with tears in her eyes. "Honestly, I wasn't sure it would come back in our favor, but it's nice to know the truth does come out."

Foglesong's sons were also relieved.

"This is a good start," Jed Foglesong said. "The investigators did a terrible job and it was clear they were trying to make things fit (into their conclusion) when the facts simply don't fit."

Foglesong's other son, Kurt, called the verdict "justice."

"It took too long, but I'm very happy."

Contact Rob Parsons at 934-6800 or rparsons@tcnpress.com.