Florida Man Charged In Deadly 2016 House Fire Of Texas Lawyer

A Florida man was charged in the killing of an esteemed Texas attorney who was doused in gasoline and set on fire nearly six years ago, police said. 

Steven Aubrey, 61, was arrested in Oakland Park, Florida for the 2016 killing of Ira Toblowsky, the Dallas Police Department announced on Wednesday. He was charged with murder, according to online jail records obtained by Oxygen.com.

“The information and evidence gathered during the years-long investigation have resulted in making the arrest,” Dallas Police Department said in a statement on April 27.

For years, Aubrey was a person of interest in the Texas lawyer’s murder. Authorities said the two men knew each other because Toblowsky once served as counsel for Aubrey’s mother in a legal case filed against him.

Toblowsky was killed on May 13, 2016 at his Kenshire Drive home in Dallas as he was preparing to go to work, law enforcement said. Emergency responders found his scorched body in the house's garage.

“An investigation determined Tobolowsky entered his garage and was near his car when Aubrey assaulted him, pouring gasoline on the victim, setting him on fire, causing his death,” Dallas Police Department added.

Tobolowsky’s death was ultimately ruled a homicide due to thermal burns, smoke inhalation, and blunt force trauma. 

Authorities later found mysterious holes drilled in the Tobolowsky’s fence, which detectives postulated at the time could have been drilled to allow the lawyer’s suspected killer to view him “coming and going” from his home, according to a heavily redacted 2016 search warrant that Oxygen.com obtained.

For years, however, authorities were unable to make any arrests in Toblowsky’s killing.

"When it happened, it was a horrible, horrible shock,” Bob Hinton, a longtime friend of Toblowsky’s told Fort Worth television station KXAS-TV. “He didn’t have an enemy in the world, that we were aware of. This thing was just crazy the way that it fell out of sight. I would expect that the Tobolowsky family would be very glad that the case was picked back up."

Hinton said Toblowsky, who he had known since high school, was highly regarded in legal circles and the community prior to his sudden death.

"His reputation around the courthouse was the same as it was in high school and every walk of his life,” Hinton added. “He was just a wonderful guy. He was very modest kind of a guy."

"He never missed a sporting event of his kids, always had a video camera on his shoulder — just an honest, hardworking guy," he said. "I’m hopeful and very happy for the Tobolowsky family. It’s not going to bring Ira back, but there needs to be closure."

Aubrey had previously denied any involvement in Tablowsky’s death, according to the Dallas Morning News.

He’s currently being held on a $2 million bond at a Broward County detention facility in Florida, online records show. His extradition to Texas is pending, officials said. It’s unclear if the 61-year-old had retained legal counsel as of Thursday afternoon.