{"id":223935,"date":"2026-04-08T21:30:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T21:30:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/223935\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T21:30:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T21:30:07","slug":"florida-man-arrested-after-allegedly-burning-down-his-own-home-murdering-man-who-tried-to-stop-second-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/223935\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida man arrested after allegedly burning down his own home, murdering man who tried to stop second fire"},"content":{"rendered":"

A\u00a0Florida man<\/a>\u00a0has been captured after burning down his own home, returning hours later to ignite another blaze and fatally stab a man who tried to stop him, authorities said.<\/p>\n

William Michael Larsen, 37, was arrested Tuesday after an hours-long manhunt in the Floral City area, the\u00a0Citrus County Sheriff\u2019s Office\u00a0said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an all-hands-on-deck approach,\u201d Sheriff David Vincent said.<\/p>\n

Deputies first responded to a call about a house fire on a quiet Floral City street just after midnight Tuesday. <\/p>\n

The homeowner<\/a>, identified as Larsen, was not on the scene when deputies arrived but was later found and questioned about the blaze, authorities said.<\/p>\n

Hours later at 6:13 a.m., deputies received a second call reporting that Larsen had returned to the same street and\u00a0ignited a nearby shed, the sheriff\u2019s office said.<\/p>\n

William Michael Larsen, 37, was arrested Tuesday after an hours-long manhunt in the Floral City area, the Citrus County Sheriff\u2019s Office said. Citrus County Sheriff’s Office<\/p>\n

Deputies first responded to a call about a house fire on a quiet Floral City street just after midnight Tuesday. FOX13<\/p>\n

The homeowner, identified as Larsen, was not on the scene when deputies arrived but was later found and questioned about the blaze, authorities said. FOX13<\/p>\n

Witnesses reported that another man at the home tried to put out the fire, but Larsen stabbed the man and fled in a white GMC pickup truck.<\/p>\n

Investigators said Larsen\u2019s mother owned the home that was initially set on fire, along with the neighboring property where the shed was ignited,\u00a0FOX13 Tampa<\/a>\u00a0reported.<\/p>\n

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The\u00a0stabbing victim\u00a0died at the scene, according to authorities. His identity has not been made public, though family members told the station that he was the long-term boyfriend of Larsen\u2019s mother.<\/p>\n

As investigators searched for Larsen, the sheriff\u2019s office said they found his pickup truck abandoned in a wooded area in Inverness, about a ten-minute drive north of Floral City.<\/p>\n

Witnesses reported that another man at the home tried to put out the fire, but Larsen stabbed the man and fled in a white GMC pickup truck. FOX13<\/p>\n

Investigators said Larsen\u2019s mother owned the home that was initially set on fire, along with the neighboring property where the shed was ignited,\u00a0FOX13 Tampa\u00a0reported. FOX13<\/p>\n

Shortly after the discovery, the sheriff\u2019s office received reports that a man matching Larsen\u2019s description was seen walking in the same neighborhood where the fires and stabbing happened.<\/p>\n

Deputies responded and took Larsen into custody without issue.<\/p>\n

Larsen is facing multiple felony charges, including arson<\/a> and first-degree premeditated murder. He may face additional charges as the investigation continues.<\/p>\n

Investigators are still working to determine a motive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A\u00a0Florida man\u00a0has been captured after burning down his own home, returning hours later to ignite another blaze and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":223936,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[692,4864,1637,265,624,28,30,29,3858,4538,4278],"class_list":{"0":"post-223935","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-florida","8":"tag-arrest","9":"tag-arrests","10":"tag-arson","11":"tag-crime","12":"tag-fires","13":"tag-florida","14":"tag-florida-headlines","15":"tag-florida-news","16":"tag-investigations","17":"tag-murders","18":"tag-us-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223935","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=223935"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223935\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/223936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=223935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=223935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}