Shinnecock Family Still Trying To Put Pieces Together After 2016 Fire

A year and a half after a fire destroyed their home on the Shinnecock Indian Reservation, the Collins family is holding on to hope that the State Police still will nail the culprits who started the blaze—and now is offering a $20,000 reward for tips leading to an arrest.The August 2016 fire was deemed an act of arson by FBI investigators three months later, but nobody has been arrested or charged with the crime.Laurabeth Collins, 33, and her husband, Daniel, 31, have not been able to completely heal from the incident. “It’s just unfortunate,” said Ms. Collins. “We want justice, obviously.”The Southampton Volunteer Fire Department responded to the fire on Thunderbird Lane at 3:30 a.m. on Friday, August 26, 2016, and spent the next four hours battling the flames. The house was a total loss, as was an 11,000-square-foot home that Mr. Collins was building at the time to replace the smaller 1,500-square-foot home.The Collinses and their children—they declined to share their names but noted they are now 10, 7 and 4—escaped the flames in the middle of the night by jumping out a rear window before first responders arrived on the scene.As reported in The Press in October 2016, the preliminary investigation pointed to arson, with tribal leaders noting that fires had started at multiple portions of the home.To help to solidify the case, Ms. Collins added, the fire marshal and a K-9 unit with the State Police visited the scene of the fire. Based on soil samples taken from the property, it was ultimately determined that the fire was arson. Ms. Collins speculates about the motive. “Jealousy? It’s hard to say,” she said. “We’re doing well for our family, and not everyone there has that. That is my speculation.”The FBI has investigated reports of arson on the reservation three times since 2013, including a purposely set blaze that destroyed the Shinnecock Indian Nation Gaming Authority trailer.Today, the only things on the Collins’s property among the rubble are two charred carcasses of homes, a playground in the rear of the property, and a toy fire hydrant.In the next two to six months, Mr. Collins said he hopes to see that change. Insurance payments on one of the homes, he explained, should be approved within the next two months, and insurance on the other home should be approved within six months.Mr. Collins, a contractor who was building the house himself, with the help of his crew, said he wants to rebuild both homes—though he and his wife are not sure whether they will move back onto the reservation.“It’s more about peace of mind than anything,” said Ms. Collins, explaining that they fear moving back after the malicious attack. She added that part of getting peace of mind is finding out who did the crime.In order to assist police with the investigation, the Collins family is offering a $20,000 reward to catch the person or people who set the houses on fire. The reward money is out of the family’s own pockets, Ms. Collins said, and was raised from $5,000 because the smaller amount didn’t bring any tips.“The decision to bump it up was our own decision,” Ms. Collins said. “We were going back and forth with the police, and got some leads, but not enough to get a conviction.”Calls to State Police seeking more information about the investigation were not immediately returned.The family is still asking anyone with information to come forward, explaining that they just want to put back together the fractured pieces of their lives.“I think the worst part is they are still out there,” Ms. Collins said. “There’s a lot of information swirling around—and these people are walking around like nothing happened. Meanwhile, our whole lives have changed.”