Black Metal Fan Charged In Connection With String Of Fires At Churches In Louisiana

April 11, 2019

According to ABC News, a 21-year-old man who had ties to the black metal scene, has been arrested in connection to three fires at black churches in Louisiana.

Holden Matthews is suspected of setting the fires over a span of 10 days. He is being held in St. Landry Parrish jail on three counts of simple arson of a religious building.

Louisiana State Fire Marshal H. "Butch" Browning told ABC News that "we're still vetting several motives," but added that they have found that Matthews had ties to "black metal and its association and history with church burnings in other parts of the world."

Matthews was arrested after investigators found a gas can at the scene of one of the fires and traced it back to a local Walmart and linked it to Matthews's credit card.

According to The Daily Beast, a Facebook page that appeared to belong to Matthews showed he was active in pagan and black metal pages, and that he commented on two memes about far-right former neo-Nazi metal musician Varg Vikernes, who served 15 years in prison for killing a fellow metal musician and burning churches in Norway. Matthews was also the lead singer for a band called VODKA VULTURES, according to CBS News.

Three churches suffered devastating fires: St. Mary Baptist Church on March 26, Greater Union Baptist on April 2, and Mount Pleasant Baptist Church on April 4. All three churches are historically black and in the St. Landry Parish, which is nearly 42 percent black.

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