What drove troubled trio to allegedly incinerate Blind River man?

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“Dead folks can’t hurt you none. It’s the ones that are alive you have to watch out for.” ― Grace Metalious, Peyton Place

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The man didn’t mince words when I asked about his murdered next-door neighbour.

“He was an a–hole. I hated him,” the man said at his home outside Renfrew in 1997.

“How’d you know him?” I asked.

“He was my brother,” the man replied.

In small towns, passions, hatreds and secrets run very deep. It is not like a 3:30 a.m. shootout between two knuckleheads in a Scarborough strip mall.

A story out of Blind River caught my attention, reminding me of Peyton Place.

According to the OPP, detectives arrested three people in a Feb. 6, 2023 arson murder. The trio left troubled trails.

Cops say that around 9 a.m. that day, emergency personnel responded to a suspicious fire at a residence and an associated vehicle. Inside the residence was the lifeless body of the unfortunate Dwayne Kozuch, 51.

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Cops pegged Kozuch as a suspected dope dealer.

On Thursday, cops arrested and charged three people from tiny Blind River: Two for first-degree murder, the other for accessory after the fact, arson and other charges. No doubt, the trio are luminaries in their communities.

Yoga instructor Lindsay Rietze, 28, is charged with first-degree murder, arson-disregard for human life and arson-damage to property. Nathaniel Bates, also 28, is charged with the same crimes. Both remain in custody.

Amanda Soum, 42, was hit with accessory after the fact, along with the same arson charges. She too is in custody.

Reitze’s social media pages offer a plethora of photos showing her breaking yoga poses, playing action girl and in a Field and Stream meets Glamour, photos of her dolled-up while fishing.

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But a quick search reveals Reitze is in a world of woe. Two weeks after the murder of Kozuch — a native of southwestern Ontario — she was arrested when cops found her to be a passenger in a car stolen from Sudbury.

Reitze and Nathaniel Bates (him again) led cops on a high-speed chase on Hwy. 17. He allegedly had 15.5 grams of cocaine in his possession. Reitze was on two different release orders and that included no contact with Bates.

Last November, our heroine again fell afoul of the law after a gun was pointed at a driver attempting to exit a Bruce Mines gas station.

The OPP said: “Both vehicles reversed simultaneously, during which a rear passenger in the suspect vehicle made an obscene gesture toward the complainant. The passenger then produced a handgun, inserted a magazine, and pointed the weapon at the complainant.”

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A gun and multiple rounds of ammo were discovered under the hood of the vehicle. Cocaine, fentanyl and other pills rounded out the criminal cocktail. Rietze was hammered with a slew of firearms-related and drug offences.

Her co-accused Bates has an equally colourful background. Like the time he allegedly tried to slug a cop in Elliot Lake. At the time he was a suspended driver and wanted on warrants. You can also toss in five counts of failure to comply with a release order there.

In 2021, Bates was allegedly involved in a family brouhaha with a brother. He was pinched a short time later with a gal pal. Cops say officers located cocaine, fentanyl, and nabilone inside the van.

None of the allegations have been tested in court.

Grace Metalious was the groundbreaking author of steamy Peyton Place in the 1950s. Ever since it has been a byword for small-town drama and intrigue.

She wrote: “At Peyton Place there were three sources of scandal: suicide, murder, and the disgrace of an unmarried girl.”

Only murder remains on the roster. As it always does.

bhunter@postmedia.com

@HunterTOSun

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