ROCKFORD — Coosa County Sheriff Terry Wilson, flanked by representatives from the Alabama Fire Marshall’s office, the Alabama Bureau of Investigation, the Coosa County Sheriff’s Department and the 40th Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s office announced the arrests and indictments of three Etowah County men who have been charged with two counts of murder and one count of attempted murder in a 1995 incident on Lay Dam Road.

Assistant District Attorney Frank Teel said an interview in the past two-three years yielded information that led to the indictments. L.C. Collins, Jr., 42, of Gadsden, Mickie Wayne Collins, 52.of Attalla, and Charles Richard Tooley, 41, of Navarre, Florida, are in the Coosa County Jail on bonds set at $500000 each on two counts of murder and $250,000 each for the attempted murder.

“I can assure you it’s an extremely solid case,” Teel said. “I certainly feel they’ll be brought to justice.”

Wilson said, “On May 16, 1995, emergency medical units, fire departments and the Coosa County Sheriff’s Office responded to a call of a fire and explosion and a burned victim on the edge of the roadway in the Unity community.

“The emergency personnel found three victims with severe burns near a burning hunting cabin off County Road 55, known as Lay Dam Road. The victims told law enforcement authorities they had been tied up, robbed and set on fire by unknown assailants. All three victims were immediately transported to nearby hospitals for medical care.”

Charles Thomas Amberson, Jr., 41, and Darell Thomas Coleman, 39, both of Gadsden, died of their injuries within a few days. The third victim, Roger Darrell Firestone of Hokes Bluff, near Gadsden, survived.

The three victims and the three men charged were all residents of Etowah County at the time.

Wilson said acknowledged the help of the agencies represented at the press conference and said, “As new information came to light, investigations and follow-ups were conducted, but to no conclusion until now.”

The Daily Home reported at the time of the incident that then-sheriff Bill Evans was suspicious of the victims’ story because of more than 1,300 marijuana plants confiscated on 165 acres of land leased by the victims.

Evans said then, “The story we’ve gotten from them is that three or four people appeared on their property, without them hearing any car pulling up. They tied them up, threw lantern fluid on them and set them on fire. But we’re not sure that’s what happened.”

The incident occurred at 8:50 a.m. on a Tuesday morning.

A hunting lodge where the victims were staying, which was built from scrap lumber and tin roofing, completely burned. The victims told Evans they crawled out of the blaze.

Evans said he “strongly” suspected the victims may have been linked to the marijuana plants because of wood paths leading from the plants to the lodge.

Coleman was burned over 80 percent of his body and Amberson 60 percent. Reports did not list how extensive Firestone’s burns were.