Memorial pays tribute to Columbus fire victim as authorities investigate blaze
Flowers, candles, photographs and balloons adorned the corner of 14th Avenue and 16th Street in Columbus, a colorful display that stood in stark contrast to the burned house behind it.
“R.I.P Val Almonord,” read the sign there Monday, with scribbled tributes to the man killed last week in the house fire, a blaze authorities believe was deliberately set.
The alleged arsonist, 18-year-old Richard L. Jernigan, remained jailed after police arrested him Friday in the East Highland neighborhood, where officers called to the fire at 10:29 a.m. found the two-story home engulfed in flames.
Firefighters extinguishing the blaze found Almonord’s body on the first floor of the house, on the south side that faces 16th street, where Muscogee County Coroner Buddy Bryan pronounced him dead at 2:45 p.m.
Almonord, 47, had been living in a room on the second floor, Bryan said. He had injured his ankle and missed work that day. The coroner thought he might have been trying to escape the burning building when the second floor collapsed on him.
Columbus Fire Marshal John Shull said investigators are not sure how Almonord came to be where they found him. He could have been on the second floor when it collapsed, Shull said.
Victim identified by father
The details of what occurred, where the fire started and how it allegedly was set, have not been determined, Shull said, but investigators have sufficient evidence to charge Jernigan, and they believe more charges are likely to follow.
Almonord’s body was identified by his father, Dr. Val Almonord, a Democrat running for Georgia’s 3rd Congressional District, the coroner said. The body was sent to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation crime lab for an autopsy, with the precise cause of death yet to be determined, Bryan said.
Speaking by phone Monday with the Ledger-Enquirer, the father said he still lies awake at night, wondering why someone would target his son.
“I would like to know why someone set the house on fire like that,” said the retired podiatrist, 78. “That’s what keeps me awake at night.”
His son, the middle child among five siblings, was never a troublemaker, he said. “He was a gentle soul, someone who cared very much about his family and friends.”
Almonord said he enjoys fishing, and thought his son didn’t like it quite as much, but accompanied his father on those trips, sometimes to Savannah, Georgia, or Tallahassee, Florida, so they could spend time together.
Now the father’s left hoping the investigation will resolve his unanswered questions: “I hope the police find out why he did that,” he said of the suspect.
Columbus police homicide investigators were canvassing the neighborhood Monday, asking residents what they witnessed. A department spokesman said detectives have not launched a homicide probe, but they are helping arson investigators gather information. So far the police regard this as a death investigation, he said.
A neighbor walking down 16th Street on Monday afternoon said she did not know Almonord, but she was familiar with Jernigan, and said he also had been staying in the house that burned, which belonged to his grandmother. The neighbor did not want to give her name.
Jernigan was booked into the Muscogee County Jail at 5:09 p.m. Friday, and faced a judge during a preliminary hearing Saturday morning in Columbus Recorder’s Court, according to jail records. His bond was set at $146,000 on a charge of second-degree criminal damage to property and $75,000 for first-degree arson, jail workers said.
The fire marshal said the house was a total loss, and investigators estimated the building’s value at $50,000, and the value of the contents lost at $10,000.
This story was originally published March 8, 2022 at 3:58 PM.