All in the Family

It is way too easy to say the apple does not fall far from the tree after the mother and brothers of a man convicted of killing six people in a 2008 arson on the East Side of Youngstown were arrested last month on charges they harassed a West Side family and threatened to burn their house down.

Scott and James Davis and their mother, Ann Davis, have all been charged with various crimes after a Silliman Street family accused them of threatening them over who knows what last month. Michael Davis, Ann's son and the brother of the other two, is serving a sentence of over 300 years after he was convicted of setting the blaze that killed six members of the Crawford family as they slept in their Stewart Avenue home one especially frigid January morning in 2008.

The lead detective on the case seemed puzzled when I spoke to him last week to get information on the case, which all took place in November. ``What's the hook?' he asked.

The hook? It's simple: when the relatives of a man conviced of killing six people in a fire threaten to repeat his crimes, that's a hook -- along with a line and a sinker and anything else you can think of.

The Davis brothers were also suspects in the Crawfrod blaze and were brought in for questioning. I remember seeing them in the Detective Bureau with their paper-like jumpsuits that had name tags attached as their clothes were being tested for evidence and how bewildered they seemed by it all.

At the trial, Davis' attorney offered several theories as to who was responsible, since there were no witnesses, including one where he said one of the brothers set the fire. Talk about brotherly love. The brothers were also suspects in an arson in the neighborhood earlier during the holiday season where an old man was forced to leave his home after it was set ablaze in the wee hours.

But the jury didn't buy that and the man who still does not look like he is old enough to shave will have to learn how in prison. Ann Davis told me at the time of the fire that she was going to leave Youngstown because of all the publicity and the fear for her family's safety, but apparently she did not get far. A police report said the home they were staying in at the time of their arrests last month was littered with animals and feces, both human and animal. Another report said the brothers were wanted on warrants, so perhaps their brother's demise did not set an example for them of what not to do.

A not all to uncommon family situation in Youngstown. The hook? Except for six people dying almost three years ago, maybe there really isn't one.