Arson suspect arrested after confrontation over DUII victims' memorial

KEIZER, Ore. – A 33-year-old was arrested on arson charges Wednesday, accused of setting a Keizer man’s SUV on fire late last month.

Joseph Rife, 33, of Salem was booked into the Marion County Jail on first-degree arson charges. His bail is set at $40,000.

According to Keizer Police, the owner of the burned SUV had been confronted by a group earlier in the day (June 27) for removing items from a memorial to three teenagers - Trinity Watt, 19, of Salem, Madison Capobianco, 19, of Salem and Makayla Tryon, 18, of Keizer - who were killed in a car crash last month.

Investigators say Rife was at the incident at the memorial on Cherry Avenue.

He told the relatives of the crash victims that he was picking up and throwing away items at the memorial to “clean up” the area, something that the family members strongly objected to.

"He called it garbage, 'I'm just cleaning up the garbage.' And I let him know, 'No, this isn't garbage. This is my daughter's memorial here,'" Tammy Watt, mother of Trinity, told KATU. "We didn't expect any of our stuff to be robbed from us, like our daughters were, he did this heartlessly."

Officers were called to the scene to tell the man he had “no lawful responsibility to dispose of the memorial items,” adding that the memorial was not an obstacle or a danger to the public.

KATU is not naming the man because police say he didn’t commit a crime.

Police said that later that night the man’s Ford SUV was set on fire in his driveway on Aumsville Highway Southeast.

Investigators later connected a dark gray Ram 1500 pickup to the arson, which led them to Rife. He was arrested without incident, and police executed a search warrant for his truck and home. No word on what they found.

Authorities say the fire caused more than $12,000 in damage to the SUV.

Juan Carlos Rodriguez Palacios, 25, of Salem, was arrested on several charges, including three counts of first-degree manslaughter and DUII, for the deadly crash on Cherry Avenue on June 2. Police say he was nearly three times the legal blood-alcohol limit when he was arrested.