Fort Wayne man charged with arson after mother's garage fire

Christopher Peden, 36, of Fort Wayne, Indiana, faces Level 4 felony arson charges after court documents say he cut off his own genitals, poured gasoline on them, and set them on fire on the floor of his mother's detached garage on May 6. Parallel stabbing and garage fire investigations ended with his hospital confession, according to affidavits cited by Fox 59, WTHR, and WRTV.

For homeowners, a detached garage is often treated as a low-stakes outbuilding — storage, tools, a lawnmower gas can. This case shows how quickly a garage fire can pull police, firefighters, neighbors, and an entire block into a criminal probe with property damage far beyond one door.

Key Takeaways

• Probable cause affidavits allege Christopher Peden, 36, admitted he harmed himself with a kitchen knife in his mother's detached Fort Wayne garage, then used gasoline and a lighter to set his severed genitals on fire on the garage floor.
• Investigators first encountered Peden as a reported stabbing victim downtown; he later told hospital investigators he had been dishonest and wanted to be truthful about the garage blaze.
• Officials recovered a red plastic gasoline container, four lighters, and a kitchen knife from the scene, according to court documents.
• WRTV reports the fire also damaged two additional properties and two vehicles, underscoring how garage fires can spread costs beyond the structure where they start.
• Peden faces a Level 4 felony arson charge in Allen County court, with a hearing scheduled after the affidavits became public.

What happened inside the mother's garage on May 6?

On May 6, the Fort Wayne Fire Department responded to a fire at a detached garage while Fort Wayne police were simultaneously investigating a reported stabbing, Fox 59 reports. The property owners told investigators a neighbor woke them to alert them to the fire.

They noticed a family member, 36-year-old Christopher Peden, was missing from the home. According to WRTV, Peden's mother and brother lived at the residence. The brother told officials Christopher Peden could not be found as firefighters examined the garage.

WRTV also reports the garage had no electricity and contained only a small gas can for the lawnmower — details that matter when assessing fire risk in outbuildings that rarely get the same safety attention as the main house.

Court documents cited by Fox 59 state Peden later admitted he went to the garage around 2 a.m., harmed himself by cutting off his penis with a kitchen knife, poured gasoline on it, and set it on fire on the floor just inside the door. He then walked away from the property until he encountered police.

Why did investigators first treat Christopher Peden as a stabbing victim?

Before the garage confession, police encountered an injured Peden and initially handled the case as a stabbing, according to the affidavits. Fox 59 reports that as he was being taken to a hospital, Peden claimed he had been stabbed somewhere in downtown Fort Wayne and said he had been threatened the day before.

WRTV says medics rushed Peden to the hospital for treatment while investigators were still connecting him to the missing-person report tied to the garage fire. The parallel timelines — a body-injury call and a structure fire at the same address — eventually merged into one suspect.

At the hospital, Peden allegedly told investigators he was dishonest about the stabbing and wanted to be truthful, Fox 59 and WRTV report. That is when he described the self-harm and the ignition inside the garage, shifting the case from an assault narrative to an arson investigation rooted in his own statements.

What evidence did police collect from the garage?

Investigators documented physical items inside the detached garage that aligned with Peden's account. Court documents cited by Fox 59 indicate investigators collected a red plastic gas container, four lighters, and a kitchen knife from the garage.

WRTV specifies the lighters as BIC brand and notes all items were collected as evidence. The affidavits do not state whether investigators recovered the severed body part, according to reporting on the court filings.

For property owners tracking liability and insurance claims, evidence lists like this often become the factual backbone of arson cases — linking accelerants, ignition sources, and tools to a single location. A garage that stores fuel for yard equipment can already carry elevated risk; affidavits in this case describe gasoline applied directly to an ignition source on the floor.

What charges does Christopher Peden face in Allen County court?

Peden is charged with arson as a Level 4 felony, Fox 59 reports. WRTV states he is due in Allen County court for the May 6 fire at the detached garage on his mother's property.

Fox 59 notes a hearing was scheduled for the week after the court documents surfaced. The charge centers on the garage fire itself rather than the initial false stabbing claim, though investigators used Peden's later admissions to build the probable cause narrative.

Readers following similar cases in our Wealth Hacks & Passive Income section will recognize a recurring theme: outbuildings sit on the same deed as valuable land, but criminal fires can trigger repair bills, neighbor claims, and long court calendars that erode household stability.

Why does a detached garage fire matter beyond one household?

WRTV reports the May 6 blaze did not stop at the garage door. According to the station's summary of the affidavit, the fire also damaged two additional properties and two vehicles. That spread turns a single-structure incident into a multi-party property event.

Detached garages are common wealth-building accessories — workshop space, rental-ready storage, or future conversion potential. They are also physically separated from smoke detectors and daily foot traffic, which can delay discovery. Here, a neighbor's alert woke the homeowners; without that, the timeline could have lengthened.

Insurance, municipal fire response, and criminal prosecution can all run in parallel after a garage arson charge. Even when no one else is injured, secondary damage to neighboring homes and cars can multiply financial exposure for everyone on the block.

The Fort Wayne case is extreme in its details, but the underlying lesson for property owners is familiar: treat garage fire prevention, fuel storage, and neighbor notification as part of protecting home equity, not as an afterthought behind the main residence.

What should readers know about the source documents?

All allegations above come from probable cause affidavits and court records as reported by local television stations — not from independent verification by BlasterPost. The graphic nature of Peden's reported confession has drawn national attention precisely because court filings made the garage sequence a matter of public record.

Fox 59, WTHR, and WRTV each published their accounts after reviewing the same core documents: a May 6 detached garage fire, a missing resident, a stabbing claim that was later withdrawn, and a hospital interview in which Peden allegedly described cutting off his penis, applying gasoline, and igniting it on the garage floor.

The case remains before the courts in Allen County. Peden is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. Additional filings may add context about motive, injury treatment, or sentencing exposure as hearings proceed.