Tennessee man allegedly douses mother, sets house ablaze during eviction attempt
A son allegedly doused his mother and her home with gasoline during an eviction, then watched the fire as the house burned to the ground.
A 32-year-old Tennessee man is accused of turning an eviction fight with his mother into a gasoline-fueled attack that left her burned, her home destroyed, and deputies facing an attempted murder case with a disturbing family history.
Dustin Tayler Machen was arrested after deputies in Washington County responded to a reported arson around 3 a.m. on April 9 in the Gray and Boones Creek area. Sheriff Keith Sexton said Machen had broken into his mother’s home, left, then returned with a container of gasoline. Authorities say he poured it on the woman and the house as she tried to get away, then allegedly smashed her cellphone so she could not call for help.
The woman escaped to a neighbor’s home and called 911 from there. She was treated for burns on her arms and later flown to Vanderbilt University Medical Center for further care, according to sheriff’s officials. Deputies found the house engulfed in flames, and court records described it as burned to the ground. Machen was later found in a nearby field, allegedly watching the fire, before he was taken into custody.
The charges filed against him were severe: attempted first-degree murder, attempted kidnapping, aggravated arson, aggravated burglary and interference with a 911 call. The case has drawn attention not only for the fire-setting, but for the alleged effort to stop the victim from escaping or reaching help. In true crime terms, it is the kind of escalation that lands hard: domestic conflict, an allegedly disabled phone, and gasoline used as a weapon inside a family home.
At Machen’s first court appearance on April 10, he was appointed a public defender and bond was set at $2 million. If he posts bond, he must wear a GPS tracker. A preliminary hearing was scheduled for April 23.
The backstory makes the case even darker. Machen had previous domestic violence charges involving his mother, and in those earlier proceedings he was found not guilty by reason of insanity. The arrest unfolded in Washington County, a largely rural part of upper East Tennessee that spans about 330 square miles and had a population of 133,001 in the 2020 census, with Gray among its unincorporated communities.
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