Chicago Area Local News

CHICAGO (CBS) ― Police believe an arson fire that destroyed a home in Grand Beach, Mich., might have been directed at the nearby summer home of Mayor Richard M. Daley in retaliation for the shooting of a cougar.

As CBS 2's Joanie Lum reports, the fire burned the homes of two of the mayor's neighbors in Grand Beach, Mich., three weeks ago.

Sources say Mayor Daley got a mysterious warning letter three days before the fire broke out.

Detectives are now checking out an incredible link between Mayor Daley, a spa owner and the dead cougar and how it all might have led to the arson fire.

The house destroyed in the April 24 fire was worth between $2 million and $3 million. It is owned by Tiffani Kim, who is known in Chicago for her River North wellness and beauty spa, the Tiffani Kim Institute, and her husband, Brad Griffith, vice chairman of the Chicago Board Options Exchange.

The modern structure was left charred, and its contents were unsalvageable. Kim said she lost rare archives of her fashion designs and other personal items, but was glad no one was hurt.

Initially, police and fire investigators believed they were dealing with an accidental brush fire, but they quickly determined it was arson.

Firefighters said the flames started near Mayor Daley's house, then traveled across the dune grass. Eventually, winds whipped the fire toward Kim and Griffith's house a few blocks away.

Grand Beach police Officer George Keeler was first on the scene.

"There was a wall of flames going up over a sand dune, that I would say was approximately 8 to 10 feet high," Keeler said, "and it was being fanned by the wind so much that it was just laying right out."

Neighbors in Grand Beach said they have never seen anything like it.

"It's really disturbing, obviously, somebody's going through a lot of grief with the loss," said Gary Ramberg.

"It will be well-remembered around here," said Rev. Brad Bartelmay, who said the area is normally very quiet and peaceful.

Now authorities say the fire could have been set in an angry response over an incident on April 14 in which Chicago Police officers shot and killed a cougar that was spotted in the Roscoe Village neighborhood.

The cougar was spotted in a residential area just north of Roscoe Street, near Audubon Elementary School. Many neighbors, among them the principal of the school, called police.

Officers cornered the cougar in an alley between Hamilton and Hoyne avenues. Some neighbors and animal rights activists accused the officers involved of being trigger-happy and said the cougar could instead have been tranquilized.

But Mayor Daley said police did the right thing and were acting in the interest of protecting residents.

"If a cougar attacked a child, you'd be suing the city, you'd be filing lawsuits because the police officer didn't do his job," Mayor Daley said last month in response to criticism of the shooting.

Michigan authorities say Mayor Daley received a threatening not mentioning the cougar. It is now tied to the fire investigation.

The arson investigation is being handled by authorities in Berrien County, Mich., along with the FBI and Chicago Police.

Mayor Daley's home sustained no damage. The mayor's office has declined to comment.

Mayor Daley's Michigan house made news in 1992. The mayor's son Patrick was a teenager at the time, and held an unsupervised party at the house where a fight broke out.

CBS 2's Joanie Lum and the STNG Wire contributed to this report.

(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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