ANOTHER ONE?

Maybe.

When the home of Nikki Joly burned down in 2017, killing five pets, the FBI investigated it as a hate crime.

After all, the transgender man and gay rights activist had received threats after having a banner year in this conservative town.

 

In the prior six months, he helped open the city’s first gay community center, organized the first gay festival and, after 18 years of failed attempts, helped lead a bruising battle for an ordinance that prohibits discrimination against gays.

 

For his efforts, a local paper named him the Citizen of the Year.

 

Authorities later determined the fire was intentionally set, but the person they arrested came as a shock to both supporters and opponents of the gay rights movement. It was the citizen of the year — Nikki Joly.

 

All five animals died: two German Shepherds and three cats.

 

Joly told them that, on the morning of the fire, he bought $10 of gas at a Marathon station so he could cut his grass. He began to mow, but it got too hot so he stopped with the backyard half done.

 

He went to work at the church and got a call from Moore at 1:02 p.m., said the report. Moore had forgotten to pack her lunch so asked Joly to bring it to her at work. The couple share one car.

 

Joly returned home, which was two miles away, went inside for a minute or two, and left, he told police.

 

The fire was reported by neighbors at 1:16 p.m.

 

The sequence of events would have made it difficult for anyone but Joly to set the fire, Grove said in the police report.

 

“The timeline shows a window of less than five minutes for another person to enter the residence, splash gasoline around, ignite the fire and then leave without being [seen],” wrote Grove.