A 61-year-old man was arrested Wednesday in Florida on a capital murder charge in the 2016 slaying of prominent Dallas attorney Ira Tobolowsky, police say.
Steven Aubrey, 61, was booked into the Broward County Jail in lieu of $2 million bail, The Dallas Morning News reported, citing jail records. It wasn't immediately known if he had an attorney.
Tobolowsky, 68, was killed in what was ruled an arson fire in the garage of his home on May 13, 2016.
According to police, Tobolowsky was preparing to leave for work from his home on Kenshire Drive in Dallas when the alleged assault took place. In a statement, police accused Aubrey of pouring gasoline on Tobolowsky and setting him on fire, causing his death.
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The Dallas County Medical Examiner ruled Tobolowsky's death a homicide as a result of thermal burns, smoke inhalation and blunt force trauma, police said.
In their statement, Dallas police said homicide detectives have been working in the years since the crime to conduct interviews and gather evidence in the case. At one point in their investigation, Aubrey had a legal dispute with Tobolowsky and was questioned as a person of interest in the case, though he previously denied involvement in the killing, The Dallas Morning News reported.
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Police did not immediately say what evidence or developments in the case led to Aubrey's arrest. Bob Hinton, a long-time friend of Tobolowsky's, has followed the case for years.
"When it happened, it was a horrible, horrible shock. He didn’t have an enemy in the world, that we were aware of," Hinton said Thursday. "This thing was just crazy the way that it fell out of sight. I would expect that the Tobolowsky family would be very glad that the case was picked back up."
Hinton had known Tobolowsky since high school and now also practices law in Dallas.
"His reputation around the courthouse was the same as it was in high school and every walk of his life. He was just a wonderful guy. He was very modest kind of a guy. He never missed a sporting event of his kids, always had a video camera on his shoulder. Just an honest, hardworking guy and that’s just the theme of the Tobolowski family," he said. "I’m hopeful and very happy for the Tobolowsky family. It’s not going to bring Ira back but there needs to be closure."
Aubrey will be extradited back to Texas, police said.
