Investigators said the building lacked electrical service, focusing attention on gasoline, ignition devices and an injured family member who had disappeared.
FORT WAYNE, Ind. — A red gasoline container, four lighters and a kitchen knife recovered from a burned garage helped investigators build a felony arson case against a Fort Wayne man, according to accounts of court documents.
The physical evidence was found after a May 6 fire at a detached garage owned by the family of Christopher Michael Peden, 36. Authorities allege that Peden used the knife to seriously injure himself, poured gasoline on severed tissue and ignited it on the garage floor. He later told investigators that his first claim — that another person had stabbed him — was false, the probable cause affidavit says. He has been charged but not convicted.
Fire investigators arrived to find a building with no known electrical service, according to statements attributed to Peden’s mother and brother. That detail mattered because it removed one common category of accidental ignition from immediate consideration. The family said the garage normally contained only a small amount of gasoline for a lawn mower. A neighbor had awakened Peden’s brother to alert him to the flames, and Peden was not at the property when relatives looked for him. The inquiry therefore began with a basic fire-investigation problem: what supplied the heat and fuel needed for the blaze? Officials had a detached structure, a known gasoline container and no working electrical system. They also had reports that the fire damaged not only the garage but two other properties and two vehicles. The published accounts do not provide the fire investigator’s formal origin-and-cause determination, but they say the evidence was collected from inside the structure and cited in the charging documents.
The knife, lighters and fuel container took on added significance after police learned that Peden had been found elsewhere with severe injuries. He initially told officers that he had been stabbed in downtown Fort Wayne after receiving a threat the day before. That report created a second investigation at the same time firefighters were working at his family’s home. Police later connected the injured man to the person relatives said was missing from the fire scene.
Peden was transported to a hospital, where the court documents say he acknowledged that his first story was untrue. He allegedly told investigators that he went into the garage at about 2 a.m., inflicted the injuries with a kitchen knife, placed the severed tissue on the floor and used gasoline and a lighter to start the fire. According to the affidavit, he then left the garage and walked until he encountered officers.
That alleged statement gave investigators an account that appeared to correspond with the objects recovered at the property. The knife matched the type of instrument Peden reportedly described. The red container provided a possible source for the gasoline, and the four lighters supplied possible ignition devices. The available reports do not identify which lighter was allegedly used, whether any of the objects were tested for fingerprints or biological material, or whether investigators documented gasoline residue through laboratory analysis.
Those unanswered forensic questions could become important if Peden challenges the state’s evidence. Probable cause is the standard needed to support a charge; proof beyond a reasonable doubt is required for a conviction. A defense attorney could examine how the objects were found, who had access to the garage, whether the scene was secured and whether the alleged hospital statement was accurately recorded and lawfully obtained. The sources reviewed do not report that any such challenge has been filed.
The alleged statement itself may be more significant than the physical items because it links Peden directly to the fire. A gasoline container and lighters can have ordinary household uses, particularly in a garage where lawn equipment is stored. Prosecutors would likely rely on the combination of the objects, the fire scene, the timing of Peden’s disappearance and his reported description of what happened. No public report reviewed for this article identifies an eyewitness who saw the fire being started.
The affidavit’s most disturbing allegation has received wide attention, but authorities have released few medical details. The reports say Peden was taken to a hospital after officers found him injured. They do not state how long he remained hospitalized, what procedures were performed or whether he underwent a psychiatric assessment. They also do not state whether investigators recovered the severed tissue from the fire scene. Those gaps should not be filled through speculation about his health or mental state.
Prosecutors filed one Level 4 felony arson count in Allen County. The reviewed news reports do not list additional charges for the property damage to the nearby buildings and vehicles. They also do not indicate that Peden was charged over his original claim that another person had stabbed him. Charging decisions can change as evidence is reviewed, but no amended information or added count was located in the sources available for this report.
The classification of the case as a Level 4 felony means it is being treated as a serious criminal allegation under Indiana law. A conviction can expose a defendant to a prison sentence, though the actual outcome of any case depends on the charge proved, the defendant’s record, mitigating and aggravating factors and decisions made by the judge. Peden’s prior operating-while-intoxicated conviction was noted in some court reporting, but that earlier case does not prove the new accusation. Bond was set at $10,000 during a July 2 initial hearing, according to online court information reviewed by news organizations. Peden posted a surety bond and was released July 7. Reports at the time identified July 13 and Aug. 31 as scheduled court dates. The available sources do not show what occurred at the July hearing or whether the August date has since been changed.
The timing leaves the evidence in a pretrial posture. Investigators have described what they found and what Peden allegedly said, but neither account has been tested through cross-examination at a public trial. Prosecutors may still disclose additional reports, photographs, laboratory results or recorded statements to the defense. The defense may seek its own expert review of the fire scene or challenge whether the evidence proves that Peden knowingly or intentionally damaged the property.
Property-loss information also remains limited. WRTV reported that two properties and two vehicles were damaged in addition to the garage, but the court accounts do not give dollar amounts or explain the extent of the damage. No residents were reported injured by the blaze. The garage belonged to Peden’s family, and his mother and brother lived at the associated home, according to the affidavit.
The case remained unresolved, and Peden retained the presumption of innocence. The next publicly reported proceeding was scheduled for Aug. 31. Until court filings or testimony provide more detail, the prosecution’s case rests publicly on the alleged hospital admission and the objects investigators said they recovered from the burned garage.
Author note: Last updated August 4, 2026.