In something like a story reminiscent of Cain and Abel, the man set flames to an El Paso residence, killing his own brother.
A Texas man has been arrested on suspicion of setting fire to his home, killing his brother, and injuring his mother. Phillip Daniel Mills, 40, was enraged with his family, according to El Paso authorities, because they refused to follow the teachings of the Bible.
“Phillip Daniel Mills set fire to the inside of his house and fled, leaving his mother and brother inside the burning house,” according to the police report.
After suffering from burns and smoke inhalation, his mother, Florence Annette Mills, 82, was able to walk out of the house. She was rushed to the hospital, where her injuries are being treated. Paul Aaron Mills, 54, Mills’ brother, was rescued from the flames and sent to the hospital, where he was declared dead.
Mills admitted to setting fire to the couch and claimed he was trying to cleanse the house of “evil.”
“Once the sofa caught on fire, he walked outside the house and waited to see if his mother or brother would go outside, but they didn’t,” the affidavit reads, according to KTSM. “The defendant advised that he waited outside the residence with large rocks in his hands in the event that both his brother and mother had made it out the burning residence.”
When investigators informed Mills that his mother had survived the fire, he laughed and referred to it as a “failed attempt” to kill her.
Mills, who has a lengthy criminal history, was arrested and is being held on a $2.5 million bond for capital murder and arson.
