Owner believes house fire was arson
House fire in East End, Grand Cayman 29 March 2016
(CNS): A house in East End was gutted by fire last week and the owner, who lives in the US, believes it was deliberate. According to the RCIPS, police officers, the Cayman Islands Fire Service and medics responded to a report of a fire on Seaview Drive in East End at about 1:30am on the 29 March. While police say that CID and the fire service are investigating the incident “as per protocol”, they did not say whether or not arson is suspected.
However, the owner of the property, Jenn Frey, who lives in the United States, told CNS, “The house utilities were disconnected so I believe it was set on fire.”
On a YouTube video of before and after photos (see below), she wrote, “The home was on the market for sale. Buying the home to get rid of us would have been a better example of Caymankind.”
An RCIPS spokesperson said that the house was unoccupied and there were no injuries, and that the police were coordinating with the fire service “insofar as the cause of the fire and the investigation is ongoing”.
Over 2 years later and still nothing has been said about who the arsonist was? Is there still even a little bit of hope for this family? Having your house burned down isn’t like a little paper cut you can just put a bandaid on, it takes more to heal that wound….
Listen people how do Americans and English treat their expats? The Mexican,Africans,middle Eastern people? Now they come to cayman and want everybody to Ben over backwards for them. There are so many expats that act like the are so kind and nice to the local people yet don’t have a picture of a local or colored person on their Facebook page most of them would not even tell their family back home that the have black friends or socialise with these people. You don’t like how it’s done here them your country of origin is still there for you to go back to. Listen caymanians are not as stupid as all expats think. they come here with smiles and their tax free money and partner up with a caymanians and half the time the caymanian not even getting the 60% by law that they are entitled. So now when it doesn’t work out and they have to run back home broke, the cayman people this and that. And for the rest of people with fake profiles putting up sh$t about crime and they not coming back to spend their 10k on vacation. Hey you fail to realize that cayman is still one of the safest places in the world to live. XXXXX
Let me just say that my family has been visiting Cayman for over 25 years. The situation in your country has deteriorated so much that I don’t think we are ever going to go back. You have a poorly educated citizenry, yet you seem to hate ex-pats. My God, I have ZERO confidence that there is anyone in your police department who could even begin to solve an arson case. With the recent spate of crimes reported on in these pages, coupled with the fact that the police seem indifferent to any non-native Caymanians, we just can’t justify the $10,000 we spend each time we come to visit. We are just one family, but we are not alone in deciding to stay away. Good luck keeping your high standard of living without all of the visitors’ cash.
Dart wasting his money with all this new development. Seeing more and more comments of visitors saying they aren’t returning and expats saying they are selling and leaving. Don’t know what to say about my little island anymore. – Caymanian
It is interesting that the East End MLA hasn’t spoken up about arson in his little district. Perhaps no political advantage.
politician don’t stand up for what is right…they stand up for who can vote
Arden Knows all about the Adventure of this family from beginning to end
Jenn Frey ,if it is your intention to harm as many Caymanians as possible , then leave the caption on your video as is ” Cayman Island they burn my house”. If not, then I suggest you suggest that you change it to say “Someone burned my house in the Cayman Is.” Remember that at present we do not know if it was deliberately set, or who did it if it was.
Rocket Scientist, It was Arson and maybe the intention is to save as many as can be saved. It has happened before and will happen again if not stopped
What I am shocked about is the lack of video views and the lack of comments regarding this issue. Stories like these are on a sharp uptick. It is not coincidental.
Is it a problem with the RCIPS not doing their job?
Is it that the economy is so bad that everyone is fighting with everyone?
I do not know exactly what is happening but this cannot be swept under the carpet. This story has moved to the second page of the CNS website today. I would like to see some momentum kept in regard to this story. There are extraordinarily, I’ll say, weird mentalities in the Cayman Islands. Rock fever? Entitlement? Pick your poison. But it is poison.
Over the last month or so, there have been numerous articles in another news outlet in Cayman touting the robust real estate market. I can attest, one only has to go to the CIREBA website to see real estate pricing at an all time low. It makes me think, who is trying to convince whom? If you buy a condo on SMB and shop in Dartland, Caymanians will take your money gladly. But don’t go to where the locals are, they will run you out with torches blazing.They will tell you stories that their grandparents sold their land, were raped and pillaged by terrible foreigners. Meanwhile, their grandparents took that foreigners money and lived all rich like until they burned through it and sat at night slapping mosquitoes and twisting stories.
A real estate buyer in Cayman will be victim to all kinds of harassment and trying situations. I wouldn’t recommend it to my worst enemy.
Expats are truly not welcome in the Cayman Islands. In my experience. Some Caymanians will do everything in their power to let you know. It can be as small as slights and intimidation, to watching your every coming and going, ripping you off for yard work, to starting Marl Road dust, to any number of things. Lots of people have stories.
Lighting someone’s house on fire. This is true CaymanKind. At it’s finest. This is the final straw. We don’t like something. We can’t get you to leave? We’ll terrorize you. We’ll instil a fear that when you and your children go to bed at night, you will all burn in your beds.
Darkness is coming, indeed.
anonymous 07/04/2016 at 7:57 am – I totally agree and wondered how this story kept slipping lower and lower on the page until it became page 2.
Something stinks here and you can see immediately from the videos who is the culprit and who is the victim. I knew someone that lived out at Hutlands and was treated the same way for years. I never could understand why she subjected herself to it and stayed for as long as she did. But she always said that there were a few good neighbors that were kind to her.
This whole situation is sickening because at the end of the day, they will get away with it. And that is not right.
Who’s corrupt now?
Unfortunately, a few good people do not help compensate for the bad people. These poor people.
Why is it that Caymanians are so riled up and vocal about things like homosexuality, when we have a situation where people are alleging that their business was stolen from them and their house burned down and, seemingly, it’s business as usual!!!!! Why is that?!!!!
Sit on that.
Why is it that there are people who are not afraid to post their story, post photos, post video for Pete’s sake and nobody cares? Nary a person from the other side, either. Puzzling. This video freaks me out. The story that accompanies the video, freaks me out. I can’t imagine what these people have been through but for some reason, I feel it.
Has this kind of thievery and pure terrorization become so common place that it is as old news as how clear and perfect the water is at SMB?
I’ll answer the question for you:
YES. It has become common place for things like this to happen to expats in Cayman.
You are being bullied by your neighbour and call the police, “We’ll get to it ….”
There is a robbery – sorry not enough cars on patrol.
You have something that is so extraordinarily warped happen to you and move through the right channels only to experience the “Soon come” attitude that it could be months, even years before you hear back. When you do hear back, it’s been so long, more stuff has happened, and it’s a we don’t care attitude, it happened years ago… the cycle moves on and on and on and on…
Keep getting your word out. Keep telling your story.
Interestingly, nobody is giving the other side of the story.
The reason why locals are quiet is that don’t want their houses burned down, plain and simple.
7.57 you say that there are “weird mentalities in the Cayman Islands” ,but since there are no indigenous Caymanians , I guess these have all been imported.
Good point so why is that all of the “indigenous Caymanians” are the ones that point out 1st generation Caymanians, paper Caymanians, Americans, Jamaicans, Phillipinos… C’mon. You’ll have to shore up your argument a little better than that especially when you have elected members calling people Driftwood.
Perhaps 7.57am The very negative and demeaning tone of your post suggests one possible reason for you not to be accepted by Caymanians. We do not even know if it was arson but you are quite happy to believe it was Caymanians.. Isn’t it also possible that the damages were self inflicted for ulterior motives.You have apparently made up your mind that it was arson carried by Caymanians and ignored any other possibility. That is sad, and disheartening.You had a choice a number of choices: 1) wait for the truth,20 blame a Caymanian,or 3) blame a foreigner. Unfortunately for Caymanians you chose option 2, blame a Caymanian.
Thank you for your engagement on the issue. I can see we have the same issue at heart.
How long does an investigation take? This happened over Easter weekend. There will be weeds growing all over that place by now and any evidence long swallowed by nature. What do you feel is an appropriate turn around time to a) rid the incident of any wrong doing b) claim it to be arson c) find a person who set the fire, Caymanian or any other nationality?
I’m not blaming anybody and every one of my posts have used the word alleged. Currently, Ms. Frey is the only one willing to put her version of events out. There has been nothing to rid anyone of any wrong doing. By design.
I read the newspaper everyday and look forward to the day when I can hear that this investigation give people piece of mind in Cayman. The days are ticking by.
The less people say, the more cover up there is. The longer things take to get done, the less importance that is weighted on any issue.
These are real problems and it looks REAL bad. The people that sit in the LA are Caymanians. They won’t take anyone who is any other nationality.
Until Caymanians, elected Caymanians, feel the need to shout from the roof tops that they won’t take bad seeds pulling them down. Until Caymanians shout from the roof tops that they will get to the bottom of anyone who is not treating another human being with respect and care. Until Caymanians have an urgency when things affect their community safety as a whole … I will not drop the negative tone or demeaning attitude. Absolutely not.
There needs to be a shake up. If you get mad enough about my post, maybe you will make a stink and call up the police and demand this matter get cleared immediately.
Cayman needs to clean up it’s act and show the world what is not tolerated. Whether it is (in this case) an American acting out OR a Caymanian acting out or showing proof that the house happened to get hit by lightening that evening and a fire began.
Too many other things in the news which show us what is tolerated in Cayman and what is not tolerated. A news outlet pointing out bad behaviour by a Premier, not tolerated. An opinion piece by an Editor in a news outlet – not tolerated. Things that go missing from the police station, people robbed, killed or any number of things – no time for that, it’s a civil issue or simply, we just don’t know and we’ll wait for the air to clear = tolerated.
Unacceptable.
It was ARSON the power to the home was off owners were in the states sale was going to be next week Weather was good outside so it wasn’t lightning
Maybe it was VOODOO but that would still be ARSON And I doubt it was a tourist
I would like to be able to say that this type of treatment of driftwood is unheard of but we all know that is untrue. Sadly the rule of law is broken in Cayman and the scumbags are aware of it. Whoever torched the house knows they will never get caught. It makes all the rest of us just a little less safe.
The reality is that a minority, albeit a significant ignorant minority of Caymanians, hate those who enable them to live on the wealthiest island in the Caribbean. Without the hated foreigners Cayman would be a hopeless basket case, as most Caribbean territories and states are.
If you don’t want those who enable and build your wealth here, fine, we’ll go and take our work ethic, skills, experience and most of all our money, straight out of here and plant it elsewhere.
Caymanians need to get real, you have nothing without those who work, invest and spend here.
Personally I don’t give a flying crap if you don’t like us, but without us you are nothing.
Live with it.
My God CNS, why are you not providing the links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jlk_i_HStg&nohtml5=False
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYGTD5FCrM4&nohtml5=False
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UqcSsU0Hho&nohtml5=False
@1:07pm FYI this article was published on 5th April, two of the videos were not published until 6th April, and therefore could not have been included with the story.
Good for Jenn Frey for patiently recording everything and standing her ground. For decades the RCIPS have not been equipped with the intellectual capacity to discern or mediate the line between criminal and civil matters, even when the offending perpetrator is known and standing in front of them. What an appalling outcome. These videos are required viewing for our new CoP.
Agree. I was wrongfully evicted by a Caymanian representative of the owner with all my possessions still locked inside my apartment. I came home from work and the locks were changed. No court order was issued for the eviction. It was getting dark and I did not know what to do. I had my handbag and clothes on my shoulders. The police REFUSED to intervene stating it was a civil matter.
To make story short, I took them to court and won, they were even ordered to pay my attorney fees and that representative was fired.
One the funny note, that property manager was dumb and only changed front door lock, leaving back door lock. While I was packing same night, as there was no reason to stay after such a treatment, obviously some neighbors alerted the representative, and she came and was banging the windows and door, literally scared me. The following days she was harassing me with her calls and emails.
The stress I went through was too much.
There is no law enforcement on this island so people do what they are pleased to do, even if it is illegal.
2;00 pm If your payments are up to date you shouldn’t have to worry about eviction. Only persons who are in errears would be uneasy.
Pay attention to the story numpty!!! If you are wrongfully evicted and LOCKED OUT, wrongfully would mean that you are a valid tenant!! Do you think she would be saying all of this if she was in arrears??? Fool .
How arrears do you think Caymanians get?? I know a Caymanian ‘businessman’ that is ONE YEAR in arrears and refuses to pay!! So the landlord must pursue him in the courts??? and hire expensive lawyers to do so!! But he is short on funds because the tenant hasn’t been paying so he can’t afford it!!!!
If someone is paying their rent monthly Keeping the place cleaned, etc then they would not be put out.
It felt like the cop was dragging her and pretending like he didn’t understand. She is right, why couldn’t they just lock it and nobody be allowed in until it got sorted.
What is it you expect the police to do in this situation? He listened to her ranting, he didn’t arrest her or throw her off the property. CLEARLY these people have a history and clearly this IS a civil matter, requiring legal and court intervention. A police officer who walks in on a situation with people arguing about contracts and leases can’t immediately adjudicate the matter and evict somebody. Have some sense. Get an eviction order from the court and have officers serve it on someone. YOU clearly don’t have the “capacity to discern between civil and criminal matters” yourself to make this comment.
She did not call the police. The police were called on her. She had to stand her ground.
I expect that the police do not favour either party. Lock up the unit and let the court settle it!! In the meanwhile, nobody gets in and the owner’s, whomever it may be, goods are safe. It is a criminal matter when there are alleged stolen goods and somebody intentionally destroying another’s property, be it a truck with a windscreen or burning down a house.
Wow listening to the other facebook videos really sheds light on this arson situation. The lack of rule of law here is shameful. This is an example of the bad chasing out the good.
Everyone should care about this disaster.
As long as the home was properly insured, hopefully, I’d say the arsonists did them a favour.
It’s a real shame though because that was a beautiful old Caymanian home from days of yore.
I guess the down votes mean it wasn’t insured. That is very unfortunate.
Still sad to lose another Cayman house. Now whoever can build a new marmaran house like all the others.
I will never forget how they treated their own, Anna Evan’s kids and their caretakers for example.
” It is like your paltry race–always lying, always claiming virtues which it hasn’t got, always denying them to the higher animals, which alone posses them. No brute ever does a cruel thing–that is the monopoly of those with the Moral Sense. When a brute inflicts pain he does it innocently; it is not wrong; for him there is no such thing as wrong. And he does not inflict pain for the pleasure of inflicting it–only man does that. Inspired by that mongrel Morel Sense of his! A sense whose function is to distinguish between right and wrong, with liberty to choose which of them he will do. Now what advantage can he get out of that? He is always choosing, and in nine time out of ten he prefers the wrong. There shouldn’t be any wrong; and without the Moral Sense there couldn’t be any. And yet he is such an unreasoning creature that he is not able to perceive that the Moral Sense degrades him to the bottom layer of animated beings and is a shameful possession. Are you feeling better? Let me show you something.”
― Mark Twain, The Mysterious Stranger
They seem to be jumping to some serious conclusions before even an investigation has been carried out. Why is that? Perhaps they really know much more about how people feel about them in the community?
When you go to the video owner on Google, she has another video posted, in Cayman where she is confronted by a woman who is out of control, and spewing vitriol at her. Sentiments that seem to be widely held by some locals and perpetuated in Cayman. Perhaps, we may glean from the confrontation that there was a disagreement and due to this disagreement the other party had decided that rather than take things through the right channels, police and or courts, they have taken things into their own hands by taking these people’s business and burning down their house.
Wouldn’t be the first time.
Wouldn’t be the first time that somehow we got it wrong and the obvious suspect is actually innocent, and guilt lies somewhere else. Just ask yourself who stands to gain from this.Right now we seem to be assigning blame to some unknown person, but what do we really know about the owners. Not accusing, just asking.I have watched too many episodes of Matlock to jump to any early decisions in this situation.What if the owners have enemies outside of Cayman?.Please let’s keep an open mind and not jump to the conclusion that it had to be those evil Caymanians but lets seek out things for ourselves using any means including the internet,facebook,newspapers etc .Ask questions and above all find out as much as you can so that you do not have to depend on info provided by someone directly involved in this matter. Remember there are three sides to every story;your side ,there side ,and the truth.
Open to any questions you may have Matlock My # is available for all to see call any time ask away its posted
I hope you publish more on your website about your story. I know there are so many other people who are suffering in silence in Cayman. Thank you for sharing your story, I hope more people see your bravery and are motivated to share their own. Grand Cayman is a very dangerous island with VERY dangerous people.
It just informs us that someone in Cayman SET the house on fire. There is an arsonist in Cayman people. Information is provided on the web page link for a different matter. The owners provided that link to bring attention to why they were selling the home and why they believe it was arson. In 4 months time the house was robbed 2 times and set fire.. Come on
More and more this is becoming the REAL Cayman. Going downhill and picking up speed. The reputation of the people of Cayman islands is taking a beating from Bush’s excesses to MLA’s abusing the “Driftwoods to the non existing Police law enforcement and the never ending corruption in Government. Its what is expected now.
Looking through the rest of the videos, I have encountered similar situations as well as friends.
It seems like everything is up for grabs or legitimately stolen in Cayman if it belongs to furriners.
Whilst I am not religious, I do agree with some of the bible thumping ignoramuses that the end times are approaching for these Islands. Just not in the form that they believe.
What a sad situation. This family poured their hearts and souls into Cayman, even the children and this is what happens. The longer im away from the island the more I never want to go back. My son is Caymanian as is my husband and I dont even want to visit any more because of the evil hearts within the community there. I hope justice is served on a silver platter!
According to the Marl Road, there is much more to this story than meets the eye. Google the name of the company on the YouTube video. If this does not send shivers down your spine, I don’t know what will. My thoughts are with the owners of this house, it sounds like they have been through the flames in Cayman. They are not the only ones.
What name? Where?
Just spell it out for me and I’ll check it out.
I’d like to get shivers down my spine too!
Most interesting. I want to know more. Could this early morning fire be arson as the owner suspects? But proof and not speculation is needed. It doesn’t benefit the island one bit.
Go to the video directly on YouTube. You can do this when you open the video here on CNS by clicking the red “YouTube” in the right hand corner when you look at your screen. Then the video will play on YouTube. Right underneath the video there is a write up – click the “show more” and read.
Yes, I did search and watched the video and read the info at the recycling website. I posted that website link but CNS declined to include it for legal reasons I’m assuming.
Thank you.
Watch the 8min video of her very patient confrontation between herself and criminal trespassers with cops in attendance trying to grasp the situation and mediate. There is a time for civil lawyer resolution, and a time for hand cuffs, and our cops (even at Sergeant level) seemingly don’t know the difference. Everyone should watch this.
Cayman is still among the friendliest and safest places to live. Off course stuff happens but please do not become so jaded. I wonder if the owner had any problems with neighbors or others in the past. My experience with living in East End in the past is that you can hardly find a more caring and helpful community of country folks.
How long ago that was?
Mussa been over 100 years ago; before the internet!
East End = Cayman Gaza
How can you say Cayman is still safe? Have you read the news outlets lately?? This is beyond frightening.
Nothing speaks “caring” and “helpful” more than the three lynch mob nooses hanging from the front steps of the first house. What is the story on that? Why does DoT allow them to hang offensive black oppression symbols along the roadway that thousands of tourists (including black tourists) transit? The message is not clear.
Are you speaking of the house on the way into Bodden Town?
the one with the hangman nooses on the front?
As best I understand, the home owner is a UDP supporter. When the UDP is in, the nooses come down. When the PPM is in, the nooses go up. I have seen the rope colour vary through the years so … it is what it is. Who knows how it will be when Mac’s new party runs. I know that the home owner’s of the house has close family ties with MacKeeva, so we’ll see.
Also the family is black Caymanian so I don’t believe it has anything to do with black oppression but I can completely understand how some may see it that way.
Black Caymanian you got your eyes messed up that color is beige not black and in cayman the color of your skin is a big deal Blacks do and did own other blacks slavery was not a B&W issue alone
As distasteful as the nooses are, I’m not sure how they are meant as black oppression. I’m pretty sure there have been plenty of white people hung throughout history.
Come on! I feel for the owners but the statement “buying the home to get rid of us would have been more Caymankind” is completely uncalled for. You can’t just assume it is a local vs expat issue…….are we all to assume that everything bad that happens was motivated by race, gender or religion? Or is it possible that bad things are happening because of some useless thugs who just don’t have anything better to do and unfortunately every country has some of those useless individuals.
There is more to the story than just the fire. There are suspects with motive. Have the police interrogated any of those people, or will those realities get brushed aside again as they so often do in Cayman? Could have been anyone, right? Come on.
So sad! Of course RCIPS will not find or charge anyone for this crime. Politicians, keep excusing poor RCIPS leadership and performance, and stay silent of crime and see how long our tourism product survives!!
How about the realtives of the perps. turn them in?
Give me a break. Do you ever go to the courts or do you just sit and post baseless opinions all day from home? There are a bunch of cases through the courts where the police have pursued bandits and rapists and thieves and burglars. More than the under-resourced court administration can handle. Go and see for yourself. If there are crimes not being solved it is because people who know something will not get off their behinds to let the police know, even anonymously, what they know. Take responsibility for your home and work with the police. Remember that the news media and talk show hosts and politicians love to complain about the police for political reasons – to get themselves elected as the “ones who will clean things up” but then start Building Funds which are nothing more than a payout to their friends – and get off your behind and do something productive rather than just repeating the baseless crap you hear over the air.