NEOSHO FALLS — Todd LaCrone continues to search for answers following a bizarre standoff that ultimately destroyed his Neosho Falls home and pretty much all of his belongings Monday.
The incident ended with the arrest of former Woodson Countian Tava Glover, 38, Monday afternoon, who was being sought originally in Johnson County on attempted murder and arson charges.
Glover was spotted at the home of her mother, Gina Robbins, in Yates Center by local deputies. When approached, Glover fled, triggering a lengthy chase.
The pursuit eventually made its way to the outskirts of Allen County before heading back west into Neosho Falls.
While LaCrone knew the defendant, he hadn’t seen or heard from her “in about 10 years,” and had no idea why she sought refuge in his two-story house.
Lacrone had been at work in an oil field when he began receiving messages from friends that officers had surrounded his house.
A lengthy standoff followed — officers said she fired at least two shots from a weapon while she was barricaded inside — before ending at about 2 p.m. when smoke and flames began filling LaCrone’s downstairs bedroom. Glover fled the house through a side window, where she was subdued by a pair of Kansas Highway Patrol K-9 units.
She has since been transferred back to Johnson County to face those charges.
Information regarding the chase and standoff has been forwarded to the Woodson County attorney’s office, although no other charges have been filed.
Firefighters were able to knock down the fire, but not until much of the downstairs was gutted either by the fire, or with smoke and water damage.
The only items to have made it out undamaged were LaCrone’s wood-burning stove and hot water tank.
“Everything else is gone,” he said.
THE INCIDENT left LaCrone distraught for several reasons.
“I’m homeless, I don’t have a legal car, and I have $200 that’s supposed to last me for two weeks,” he said.
On top of that, work has slowed significantly for LaCrone, an oil hand at Ron-Bob Oil LLC, in part because of depressed oil prices due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, but mostly because of several spells of wet weather.
“We can’t work in the rain,” he explained.
LaCrone spent much of Wednesday sorting through his charred belongings. His clothes were destroyed, as was his TV. Every window to the house also was broken.
