Cop's House Torched

She works in the far south suburb of Lynwood and lives in Dyer, Indiana. Or she did until someone burned her house to the ground:

• It was no secret that Kelly Johnson was a police officer. She wore her Lynwood Police Department uniform when she left the house and often parked a squad car in her driveway.

  Neighbors told her they felt safe when her squad car was there. But now the Lynwood patrol officer and her family don't feel secure anywhere after their home in Dyer, Ind., was destroyed in a fire.

  The Dyer man charged in the arson allegedly stood and watched the fire and later told police he set the blaze, in part, because he doesn't like cops.

And that isn't the worst of it:

• [Offender] Costello told police that he set the fire because he was angry about being rebuffed by a woman at a nearby bar earlier that night, [Lake County Police Chief Marco] Kuyachich said. He said that he didn't like police officers and knew that a female police officer lived in the house.

  He also said that he knew the children were inside and watched the fire burn for at least 15 minutes, Kuyachich said.

Officer Johnson and her family lost everything, including five dogs and a cat. People can donate by contacting the Lynwood Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #287 or the First National Bank of Illinois in Lynwood or a First Midwest Bank in Indiana.