None — St. Mary's, GA--This was the scene around 3:30 Monday morning. People staying nearby the St. Mary's boat landing saw this. Robert Winter says, "It was a large boat, burning to the water. Literally what it did. It burned all the way to the water line." Robert Winter says he was suspicious when he heard it was the 37-foot Great Harbour. "We knew there was a domestic dispute involving that boat. And so your first assumption is that had something to do with," he says. And he was exactly right. 67-year-old David Trauger and his ex-wife 53-year-old Karen Barnes had battled over the boat for sometime. When investigators pulled the boat to shore Monday, they found the charred remains of two people on board. They believe Barnes was staying on her boat with a neighbor, 72-year-old Larry Ford, because she felt unsafe after having called police about trauger twice in the past two months.. Lt. Shannon Brock from the St. Mary's Police Department says, "He followed her and only stopped his pursuit when she pulled into a sheriffs officer substation. And then the second time was when she found some stuff that had been misplaced on her boat." After three days of searching police found Trauger Wednesday night at his home in Kingsland. Lt. Brock says, "They attempted to take him into custody. He refused to comply with the officers ended up raising a fire arm in the direction of the officers. They were forced to fire." But for those who witnessed the boat fire first hand. Winter says, "I've seen these sorts of things. Never one quite as dramatic and close." This double homicide arson is still under investigation. Police say they will have more details tomorrow.
WJAX
