Young boy a suspect in burn at Beaver Lake fundraiser

Sammamish Police confirmed Monday that the King County Arson Unit had identified a suspect in the case of vandalism at the Nightmare at Beaver Lake set on Saturday morning. Police told The Reporter they could not release a name at this time, as the investigation was ongoing. On Saturday morning just before 9 a.m., unknown vandals burned down two props at the Rotary Club of Sammamish’s Nightmare at Beaver Lake set. Now in its sixth year, the Nightmare event is the club’s biggest fundraiser, enabling Rotary to make contributions to local and state wide charities, non profits and social services like domestic violence counseling and support. Eastside Fire and Rescue Marshall Tim Pilling told The Reporter that the fires had been deliberately lit. It appears the vandals used fuel from the tiki torches which line the paths at Beaver Lake to start the fires, which burned down a scarecrow and a large fake rock made out of styrofoam. According to an Arson Unit spokesperson, the suspect was 14-years-old and lived with his parents in Sammamish. He was not arrested. The spokesperson said the case would be sent to the Prosecutor’s Office with a recommendation that the boy be charged with three counts of arson. “A witness saw someone lighting the fires with a lighter, and provided a description of the suspect, as well as a description of two dogs he was walking at the time of the arson,” the spokesperson said. “After additional follow-up, our detectives learned who the person was, and eventually developed information that led them to believe he started the fires.” Hardworking Rotary members were out at the site Saturday morning, cleaning up the damage and trying to figure out how to replace the props. Rotary Club president Norm Bottenberg and organizer Dana Young were both disheartened by the attack, considering the event is a nonprofit fundraiser for so many charities. But they were both eager to try and move forward. “The show must go on,” Bottenberg said. Pilling said EFR received a cell phone call just after 9 a.m. Saturday morning reporting the fire — he gauged the fire had been lit at about 8:45 a.m. Bottenberg said that in all the years Rotary has put on the Nightmare event, there had never been any trouble with vandalism. Event organizer Curt Madden of Scare Productions estimated the cost of the damage to be about $1,000, primarily in labor hours. A lot of the materials for the event are donated, salvaged, or built by volunteers.

Contact Sammamish Reporter Editor Jake Lynch at editor@sammamish-reporter.com.

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