Police in Fort Wayne, Indiana, have charged 36-year-old Christopher Peden with arson after he told investigators he had cut off his own penis with a kitchen knife and set it alight. The case is notable for how it unravelled: a stabbing report and a separate garage fire, initially treated as unrelated incidents, turned out to stem from the same self-inflicted event.

On 6 May, the Fort Wayne Fire Department was examining a blaze at a detached garage while police responded to a reported stabbing. The garage owners said a neighbour had alerted them to the fire and that a family member, Peden, was missing. Peden, meanwhile, was telling officers he had been stabbed downtown and threatened the day before. He later admitted he had been dishonest, saying he had gone to the garage, severed his penis, doused it in petrol and set it on fire before walking away. Investigators recovered a red petrol container, four lighters and a kitchen knife.