On January 4, 1982, 65-year-old George Sonnenberg of Jacksonville, Florida, was the victim of a fatal arson attack at the boarding house where he lived. Reports say Sonnenberg had begun a personal relationship with Ottis Elwood Toole, and that following an argument Toole barricaded Sonnenberg inside the residence and set the building on fire. Sonnenberg suffered severe injuries in the blaze and died about a week later.

Ottis Toole was not arrested in connection with this death at the time. He was taken into custody in April 1983 for an unrelated Jacksonville arson and, while incarcerated at Lake Butler, later confessed to setting the 1982 fire. Toole at times claimed he did not know Sonnenberg was inside, but later acknowledged an argument and said the fire was set in a fit of rage. At trial he was convicted of felony murder and sentenced to death; the sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment. The case drew attention to Toole’s history of pyromania, other confessions, and his mental and intellectual functioning.

Does anyone have additional information about Sonnenberg’s life in Jacksonville or about witnesses who might have known him at the boarding house?