Man charged in connection to Iconic Village apartment fire to be released on personal bond

The man who is charged with arson causing bodily injury/death, a first degree felony, in connection to the Iconic Village apartment fire in July 2018 that killed five and injured others, including one critically, will be released on personal bond, according to the Hays County District Attorney’s Office.

Jacobe De Leon O’Shea Ferguson, 30, is currently being held in an out of the county facility, pending release on the personal bond, according to Hays County Jail and Criminal Case records. The attorney on file for Ferguson in those records, a staff member listed with the Texas office of the Neighborhood Defender Service, had not responded to a request by the Daily Record for a comment regarding Ferguson’s release at time of press Thursday.

“Our office has agreed to Mr. Ferguson’s release on a personal bond,” Hays County District Attorney Kelly Higgins stated, in an email response provided Thursday to the Daily Record, following a request for clarification of Ferguson’s bond status.

“We have not dismissed or declined the case,” Higgins added, noting that the district attorney’s office is “seeking further investigation before proceeding.”

He said that as the fire investigation is ongoing, he could not comment further on any other aspects of the case.

In July, a press conference was held with members of the San Marcos Fire Department, Hays County District Attorney’s Office with multiple state agencies also on hand, where it was formally announced that Ferguson had been arrested in Austin following a lengthy investigation into the fire. This investigation involved more than one series of interviews with many of those who had been at the apartments either at the time of the fire or who had knowledge of the fire, or were acquaintances of Ferguson.

Upon his arrest, Ferguson, who the district attorney’s office alleges intentionally started the fire, had no previous record of arrest.

Ferguson was formally charged July 6 in San Marcos with arson causing bodily injury or death, a first degree felony, which carries a potential sentence of life in prison. He was originally held in the Hays County Jail. A cash/surety bond was set at $250,000 at that time.

Higgins did not comment on why his office was in agreement with regard to granting the personal bond at this point in the case.

According to Texas code, a personal bond is a sworn agreement by the defendant that he/she will return to court as ordered and will comply with the conditions placed on his/ her release.

Ferguson, a former Texas State student when the fire occurred, who later graduated in 2019 with a bachelor of science degree in anthropology, was living in one of the apartment facility’s buildings at the time of the fire, though not Building 500 that was destroyed in the blaze.

Killed in the fire were Dru Estes, 20; Belinda Moats, 21; Haley Michele Frizzell, 19, David Angel Ortiz, 21 and James Phillip Miranda, 23. Also injured was Zachary Sutterfield, who sustained third-degree burns to nearly 70 percent of his body and a brain injury.

A task force was organized in San Marcos in 2022 to look at the previous information and reports collected by investigators, seeking to take the investigation forward with a new approach– using what those at the press conference then called a “new set of eyes.'

Investigators said they conducted a second round of interviews with witnesses to look for anything that had been missed previously.

In 2018, Ferguson was one of the individuals interviewed shortly after the fire, but investigators then had ruled him out as having any connection that could potentially lead to a charge in connection to the fire or the fatalities.

Additional information brought into consideration by the task force investigation led to the arrest of Ferguson, according to information presented during the July press conference. Also in July, the possibility that additional charges could be pending was discussed, but that the decision for additional charges was in the hands of both Higgins and Hays County Assistant District Attorney Gregg Cox.