Staff photo / Ed Runyan Austintown fire investigator Fred Marcum, a captain with the Austintown Fire Department, is seen testifying Wednesday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court in the aggravated arson trial of Matthew Alexander.

YOUNGSTOWN — On the first full day of testimony Wednesday in the Matthew Alexander aggravated arson trial, Austintown fire investigator Fred Marcum was repeatedly questioned about a gas grill that Marcum said was the first thing to go ablaze when a home on Beverly Avenue caught fire Sept. 9, 2020.

Alexander, 35, of Glen Oaks Drive, is on trial on two counts of aggravated arson and single counts of aggravated burglary and breaking and entering, in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court. He is accused of participating in arson at the home.

Marcum, a captain on the Austintown Fire Department, testified that when he inspected the carport attached to the house where the fire started, he detected the “strong odor of gas” in the carport and lots of burned areas, which indicated an accelerant was used. Two gas cans also were found inside the carport.

When Marcum was asked by Jennifer Paris, assistant county prosecutor, if the grill was taken as evidence, Marcum said it was not — because the fire department does not have the room to store something that big and because a surveillance system captured a man and woman starting the fire using gasoline.

A few days later, investigators identified Ashley J. Levin, 37, of Raccoon Road in Austintown as being the owner of the red convertible that carried three people to the home that night. The third person was a man Levin and Alexander met at an Austintown bar that night. The man said he would take Alexander and Levin to a place where he could get drugs for them, according to prosecutors.

Paris asked Marcum whether he had ever heard of a vape pen being the ignition source for a fire and Marcum said he had not. Questioning during the trial by David Engler, Alexander’s attorney, suggested that Engler would try to show that the fire started accidentally as a result of a vape pen igniting fumes.

When Paris asked Marcum whether a thorough search of the carport resulted in him finding a vape pen at the scene, Marcum said it did not.

Under questioning from Engler, Marcum agreed it was fairly easy to conclude from the physical evidence that the carport was the source of the fire, and specifically the gas grill. Markham added that there also was an eyewitness — the home owner — who identified the gas grill as being the location where the fire began. The homeowner said she viewed her surveillance video of the fire being started while it was happening.

Engler then asked Marcum if he knew that the gas grill was in fact “the smoking grill of this case, why didn’t you keep it?”

Marcum said it was because “we had the homeowner’s account of what happened,” as well as security video footage.

Marcum added that a grill like that would also have to be kept in a fire explosion-proof container, and the fire department does not have the resources to preserve something that large in such a container.

Engler than asked Marcum “Did you notice the times that Matthew Alexander was bringing something in his left hand up to his mouth? Did you notice that?”

Marcum responded, “The only time in the video I saw his hand and any gestures around his face was when” Alexander put his hand up to his beard and chin and touched his beard.

Engler asked if Marcum saw on the video that Levin stooped down doing something with the gas grill, and Marcum agreed he did. Marcum said he could not tell what Levin was doing in the video.

Marcum then testified he did not believe that the propane from the gas grill contributed to the fire because the knobs on the gas grill were in the off position.

“What? The valves to the burners were in the off position?” Engler asked quizzically.

“Yes,” Marcum said.

“I have never seen this in any report that you inspected the gas grill. Are you saying you actually inspected this gas grill?” Engler asked.

“Yes,” Marcum said.

“But yet you didn’t keep the gas grill?”

“No,” Marcum agreed.

The trial resumes today.

erunyan@vindy.com