A Fort Wayne, Indiana, man faces arson charges after telling investigators he cut off his own genitals and set them on fire in a garage. The incident became public on May 6 when the Fort Wayne Fire Department was investigating a fire at a detached garage.
Simultaneously, Fort Wayne Police were responding to reports of a stabbing. The owners of the garage had been alerted to the fire by a neighbor and discovered a family member, identified as 36-year-old Christopher Peden, was missing.
While the fire department worked to determine the cause of the blaze, Peden informed Fort Wayne Police that he was a victim of a stabbing. While en route to the hospital, he claimed he had been stabbed in downtown Fort Wayne and had received threats the previous day.
According to court documents, Peden later recanted his initial statement, admitting to investigators that he had been "dishonest" and "wanted to be truthful." He confessed that he had "harmed himself" by cutting off his penis with a kitchen knife. Peden then reportedly doused the severed body part in gasoline and "set it on fire on the floor of the garage just inside the door" before leaving the scene.
Investigators recovered a red plastic gas container, four lighters, and a kitchen knife from the garage. Peden was subsequently charged with arson.