Suffolk, Va. - A house up in flames and a marriage on the rocks.
The home Michael Moring once shared with his wife is now charred, burned and destroyed.
The fire came one week after Michael's wife decided to end their marriage, by filing for divorce. Now Michael is in jail charged with arson.
Court documents show the home belonged to to his wife, and she wanted it to stay that way.
According to court paperwork she asked for "exclusive use and possession of the marital home."
A week after the divorce paperwork was filed, police say Michael set it on fire.
Documents say Michael was more than three times the legal drinking limit the night it happened.
Court papers lay out what happened that night:
Before the fire, witnesses saw Michael parked in a Toyota pick-up at the end of the driveway, facing the house.
He drove off, eventually returning to a nearby cotton field, according to court paperwork.
Within a few minutes , the documents say witnesses saw puffs of smoke began coming from the home, then the flames.
This morning, NewsChannel 3 found a muddy Toyota pick-up truck in a cotton field near the home.
When investigators got to the scene, a criminal complaint says they found two empty five-gallon red gas cans at the base of the stairs. Plus a fire investigator's dog sniffed out fuel, according to the documents.
Fuel, causing the flames that left little behind.
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