Suspect charged with setting home on fire with woman and child inside

CALHOUN, Georgia (WDEF) – Authorities have charged a Summerville man with setting a home on fire with a woman and child inside.

The fire happened before dawn on Saturday at a home on the Gordon and Chattooga county line.

The woman and child barely escaped the flames.

Gordon deputies immediately began looking for 46 year old Charles Timothy Battles.

Acting on neighborhood tips, they found him later in the day hiding out at a home in the Scottsville community.

Battles faces charges of attempted murder, arson and stalking.

He pled guilty to a stalking charge just last month.

Gordon County Sheriff Sheriff Mitch Ralston said “It was important that this matter be resolved quickly given the nature and severity of these crimes. Everyone involved worked around the clock to bring this defendant in, and now he will be held accountable in our courts.”