A lot has happened in 1986. The stage musical "Phantom of the Opera" debuted in London, while the Oprah Winfrey Show first aired on national TV in the same year. And more importantly, one man named Dewey Fredrick bought a Jeep from a car dealer in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
But it wasn't an ordinary Jeep that Fredrick drove home that year. According to court documents, Fredrick accused the dealership of selling him a lemon vehicle, which led to an act of revenge after almost four decades, The Washington Post reports.
O'Daniel Automotive Group was the involved dealership, which posted photos of a man who destroyed several cars at two of its locations in Indiana. According to an affidavit obtained by The Washington Post, Fredrick drove a 2002 Chevy S-10 pickup to the O'Daniel used car dealership lot at around 1:15 a.m. on July 17, 2022.
Fredrick then allegedly opened a Jeep Compass's fuel tank cover, stuffed a burning road flare, and set the SUV ablaze after several moments, the affidavit stated. A 2013 GMC Acadia and a 2020 Jeep Cherokee, both parked on either side of the Compass, caught the fire as well, resulting in nearly $72,000 worth of damages.
That wasn't the end of it, though. Fredrick drove to the O'Daniel Mazda dealership a mile away and allegedly tried to do the same to a 2008 Pontiac Solstice convertible by cutting through the roof. The driver's seat ignited, adding over $12,000 to the total worth of damages, the affidavit stated.
Through the security footage, Fredrick was identified and nabbed. He confessed to the felony, saying that he did so as an act of revenge against the dealership that sold him a Jeep with a defective engine in 1986. The dealership allegedly "refused to make things right," according to the obtained affidavit.
Fredrick is facing up to 48 years of jail time over four counts of arson if convicted.
