An El Paso man has set his family home on fire and fled as his elderly mom and brother slept Friday.
Phillip Daniel Mills, 40, laughed and stated that “it was a failed attempt” when officers told him that his 82-year-old mom survived the house fire.
The elderly woman is in the hospital receiving treatment for severe burns and smoke inhalation.
Mills’ 54-year-old brother Paul Aaron perished in the fire. The suspect claimed that he started the fire to “get rid of evil.”
“Phillip Daniel Mills set fire to the inside of his home and fled, leaving his mother and brother inside the burning residence,” El Paso Police said.
“The defendant states that he left the residence and allowed his mother to be in a ‘happy place’ throughout the day and waited for both his mother and brother to go to bed, before starting the fire.”
Neighbors described flames engulfing the residence as they stood helpless. Mills said that he was furious about his family not following the Bible.
“He would leave and come back, then leave, and come back stay a couple of months,” a neighbor said of Mills.
