By Chuck Hustmyre
(Continued)
Because five of the nine churches that came under attack had all-black congregations, race was initially considered a possible motive for the fires. However, according to officials at Wednesday's press conference and the criminal complaint, the first five fires, set at both white and black churches in the early morning hours of Feb. 3, were started simply for the thrill of it.
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| ATF Seal |
In the complaint, ATF Special Agent Walker Johnson wrote that Moseley confessed to investigators that after he, Cloyd, and DeBusk set the first two fires in Bibb County on Feb. 3, they saw fire trucks responding to the churches and that "burning the other three churches became...spontaneous."
Moseley also told investigators that he and Cloyd traveled to western Alabama on Feb. 7 and burned four more churches "as a diversion to throw investigators off."
According to the complaint, a confidential source told investigators that Cloyd admitted during a telephone conversation that "he (Cloyd) and Moseley had done something stupid." The source said that Cloyd claimed the fires were started "as a joke and it got out of hand."
Special Agent Johnson also wrote that DeBusk admitted to investigators that he was with Moseley and Cloyd, in Cloyd's 4Runner, when they set fire to the five churches in Bibb County. DeBusk said the three of them were looking for deer when they came up with the idea of setting fire to a church. DeBusk admitted to kicking open the doors of two of the churches the trio burned in Bibb County. He claimed he was not present when Moseley and Cloyd torched four more churches in western Alabama, although he said Moseley later told him about it.
All three suspects are college students. Moseley and DeBusk attend Birmingham Southern College and Cloyd is a student at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Police arrested Moseley and DeBusk early Wednesday and picked up Cloyd later that morning.
U.S. Attorney Alice Martin said Wednesday that the government will seek to detain all three suspects without bail.
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