'We Caused The Fire," NJ Wildfire Suspect's Girlfriend Admits In Message: Affidavit

WARETOWN, NJ — "We caused the fire," the girlfriend of one of the suspects accused of causing the massive Jones Road Wildfire wrote in a Snapchat message to a friend, according to court documents.

She sent that message on April 22, the day after Joseph Kling and a 17-year-old identified as J.M. were burning wooden pallets in the woods, according to the affidavit of probable cause obtained by Patch.

On the night of April 21, Kling, J.M., and both of their girlfriends picked up pallets from a scrapyard before heading into the woods to start a fire, the affidavit said.

About half an hour after that, J.M. and his girlfriend got into a fight, which resulted in him taking off on his dirt bike, the affidavit said. Shortly after that, he called and said he got into an accident, the affidavit said.

Kling's girlfriend told investigators that at that point, the fire was mostly out, but she could still see red under the pallets, according to the affidavit. Kling apparently threw the rest of the pallets on the fire, got in his truck and spun the tires to throw dirt onto the pallets, documents said. They left, but Kling's girlfriend still saw the red, the affidavit said.

While riding his dirt bike, J.M. crashed into a tree on Jones Road in Waretown, the documents said. The teen was taken to the hospital, as he was injured in the crash, according to the affidavit.

Before going in for a CT scan, J.M. spoke with a Lacey police officer, and said that the one thing he remembered was that he was at a spot where there was a pit with pallets in it, according to the affidavit.

Since he had shared his location with his girlfriend, police were able to get the exact coordinates of the crash.

It had occurred just 82 feet away from the Jones Road Wildfire's point of origin, according to documents.

A friend of J.M.'s girlfriend told police she had sent her a Snapchat message the following day that said "We caused the fire," the affidavit said. The girlfriend also told her friend that they failed to put out the fire and left, the documents said.

The friend added that not only had she seen Snapchat stories the night before of a fire, she had also been part of bonfires with that group in the past, according to the affidavit.

In a text conversation on April 22, J.M.'s girlfriend told a friend she had been at a fire in the woods with her boyfriend, according to the affidavit. She shared details of throwing the pallets on the fire and spinning the wheels before leaving to meet with police, documents said.

The contact replied, "You better hope they don't figure out it was you assholes," according to the affidavit. The girlfriend said she wasn't positive they had caused it, but that there was a good possibility, the affidavit said.

Additionally, in his initial interview, Kling told police that there were "two Mexicans" nearby participating in the fire, the documents said. But a text conversation between Kling and J.M. refutes that claim, the documents show.

Both of their girlfriends told police that there were only four people present that night and only one vehicle, refuting Kling's claim, according to the affidavit.

Previous reporting:

• Teen Accused In Massive NJ Wildfire To Be Released From Jail
• Man Charged In 15.3K-Acre Jones Road Wildfire Planned To Blame Mexicans, Prosecutor Says
• 2nd Person Charged In 15.3K-Acre Wildfire Still Burning In South Jersey
• Detention Hearing Delayed For Man Accused Of Arson In Massive NJ Wildfire
• Smoke Conditions From Ocean County Fire To Linger: Here's Why
• Waretown Man Accused Of Starting Jones Road Fire That Burned 15K Acres
• 12K Acre Wildfire Could Grow To NJ's Largest In 20 Years, Officials Say
• 10 Largest Wildfires In New Jersey's History: See Where They Burned, When
• Stop Flying Drones Over NJ Wildfire, Fire Chief Says
• Support Surges For Responders Amid Jones Road Wildfire In NJ
• NJ Wildfire: Pictures, Videos Depict Damage As Fire Rages