HANCOCK COUNTY, Ind. — A home in Hancock County is destroyed, and the man who says it belonged to him is left heartbroken.
"Words can't describe," Tony Sell began to say before getting choked up.
Tony said when he drove up to his childhood home, he found it charred and nearly unrecognizable. Fire investigators believe it was caused by arson.
"I don't know what kind of person could've done that," Tony said.
On Nov. 8, police arrested Kristina Boffing Sell, Tony's wife of six years, who he says he was divorcing.
"She was very abusive, both mentally and physically. In all the years that I lived there, as a child and as an adult, the cops had never been there before, and then, it became the norm while I was married to her," Tony said as a tear rolled down his face.
According to court documents, on Sept. 15, fire crews responded to the home for a reported shed on fire. Inside the shed were Tony's belongings, and inside the home was Kristina, who "refused to authorize fire personnel to conduct a thorough fire investigation."
A week later, on Sept. 22, investigators say they responded to the house again, this time for a residence fire. They would find three adult dogs dead, along with seven dead puppies and $55,000 worth of damage.
"The oldest of the adult dogs was actually ... we had registered as a service dog for her disabled son and, to my knowledge, that dog was in the house when she burnt it," Tony said.
The very next day, fire crews were called again to the home. Investigators say the house was engulfed in flames. Crews determined the home was a complete loss.
Tony received a phone call, where he learned what happened.
"I didn't believe it, and I drove over there and found out, she had, indeed, burnt the house down," Tony said.
The bad news didn't stop there for Tony. He would also learn the home he owned since 2001 was no longer his.
"She managed to get the deed to the home put in her name only, and she somehow finagled our insurance company to reassign ownership of the policy without my consent," Tony said.
Kristina was charged with several counts of arson, along with a charge of animal cruelty on Jan. 22.
According to the Hancock County Jail records, she was booked on Jan. 24 and is still being held.