State police have charged two Indiana men in connection with a vehicle fire that happened early Friday morning in Rayne Township.
Troopers say that at 3:09 a.m., they were dispatched to a loud explosion and a car alarm or horn going off in the area of Martin Road and First Street and they discovered that a 2014 Nissan Pathfinder had backed into a pull-off near the railroad crossing south of Route 110 and was engulfed in flames. It was later determined that the vehicle was stolen from Indiana Borough and police also found a large jug that contained gasoline in it.
Police used surveillance video from the Sheetz on Ben Franklin Road in White Township that 27-year-old Austin Milanos of Indiana pumped gas into a windshield washer jug, and that he. along with 47-year-old Matthew Lee Smith of Indiana and an unknown woman, went to Martin Road, then Milanos dumped gas all over the vehicle and set it on fire.
Smith also tried to set the vehicle on fire by throwing lit paper towels on the Pathfinder, but the SUV exploded and left Smith injured. He was found later in the morning and taken to IRMC for treatment of injuries before he was arrested. He remains in jail on $100,000 bail.
Milanos remains at large and is believed to be on his way to his home in Illinois. He was described by police as a white man, six-foot-two-inches tall, 175 pounds with blonde hair and hazel eyes.
Anyone with information on Milanos’ whereabouts is asked to call 911 immediately.
