Grieving Relatives Allegedly Set Fire

The father and two cousins of a boy killed by a pack of dogs were charged with burning down the trailer where the animals’ owners lived, police said Thursday.

After his son’s funeral, Robert Thorpe said he wanted to make the dogs and their owners suffer: “They bit my baby’s throat out,” he said. “I don’t want them to put them to death in a humane manner. I want to make them suffer, one by one, and then the owner. I want the owner, too.”

Thorpe, 41, and cousins Leroy Thorpe, 34, and Calvin Thorpe, 40, were charged with arson, burglary and conspiracy in the fire that destroyed the trailer hours after Thorpe’s son Robert was buried.

The 11-year-old boy was attacked by at least a dozen dogs.

The dogs’ owners, William Marker Jr. and Troy Thomas, await trial. The dogs were destroyed.