Forty-year-old Keith Rogers, described as a “gentle man” with “many friends” by his family, lived in a second-floor flat on Station Road in Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire, England.
In the early morning hours of Sunday, April 29th, 2001, while Keith was asleep, someone poured gasoline through the letterbox of his apartment and set it alight. Awakened by the smoke and flames, Keith managed to escape through a rear window, suffering from smoke inhalation, minor burns, and back and leg injuries sustained in the two-story fall.
He was taken to Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow, where he languished in intensive care for weeks. After a while, he seemed to be improving slightly, but he sadly passed away on May 26th. A post-mortem demonstrated that the smoke inhalation had caused organ failure.
Authorities were now faced with a murder investigation and were stymied from the beginning by the seeming lack of motive. On June 5th, a man and woman from Bishop’s Stortford were taken into custody in connection with the crime, but they were never charged, and since then, there have been no further developments in the case.
The arson-based murder of Keith Rogers, then, remains unsolved more than two decades later.
Crime Immemorial 