Jacob Morgan — a low-functioning seventeen-year-old autistic teenager and pyromaniac — had been sentenced to fifteen years in prison in 2016 for arson resulting in the death of his fourteen-month-old baby brother in Rock Hill, South Carolina on March 6, 2015.
Jacob had been playing with matches at approximately 8:30 AM when he set his house on fire.
According to neighbours, he began alerting them of the danger by repeatedly banging on their doors.
When Jacob attempted to return to the home, he was prevented by neighbours who were concerned for his safety. Not realising that his younger sibling was still inside, nobody approached the property, and as a consequence, nobody saved Joshua, who died on the scene. Witnesses said that by that point, Jacob was already crying and repeatedly banging his head into the ground, which made them believe he was on the verge of a suicidal breakdown. At the time of the fire, the father had been driving their mother to work, leaving Jacob alone to babysit his baby brother. Family members and neighbours would later defend Jacob, believing that while Jacob did have an unhealthy fascination with fires in general, he would never have deliberately burnt down the property, especially not when his sibling was in danger. Nonetheless, he was later apprehended and sent to a county jail to await a hearing.