Man Nabbed For Dousing Rival Lawyer With Gasoline, Burning Victim Alive In 2016

A man from Florida was arrested on Wednesday after being linked to the grizzly 2016 murder of a rival lawyer who was representing his mother in a case, being burned alive after getting doused with gasoline.

Steven Benton Aubrey, a 61-year-old attorney from Oakland Park, reportedly beat 68-year-old lawyer Ira Tobolowsky before dousing him in gasoline, all due to the fact that Tobolowsky represented Aubrey’s mother in a court case involving his father’s estate, according to the New York Post.

Aubrey had reportedly threatened his mother to change his father’s will after he found out that his father had written him out of it, promising to seek revenge against her if she did not comply with his requests.

“You have 3 days to change your mind and apologize to me or else,” he wrote to her in an email. “Or else I will make it my mission to make the rest of your life miserable, as you deserve.”

Aubrey, however, changed targets to Tobolowsky after the rival lawyer decided to represent his mother in the bitter estate battle that raged on for years, with Tobolowsky fearing for his life and even filing a defamation suit against Aubrey.

Police believe that Aubrey had even drilled a hole at Tobolowsky’s fence to spy on him.

In 2016, Aubrey made a move against Tobolowsky, beating him up on the way to his car before setting him on fire in what police called an arson attack at the time. His burnt-up body was autopsied, and Tobolowsky’s death was ruled a homicide by Dallas police, NBC Miami reported.

“Over the last four years, homicide detectives have conducted interviews and gathered evidence in the case,” the police said in a statement. “Ultimately the information and evidence gathered during the years-long investigation have resulted in making the arrest.”

Aubrey is being held on a $2 million bond and is expected to be sent to Texas for the trial.