Man Arrested For Allegedly Dousing Texas Lawyer In Gasoline, Burning Him Alive

A man wanted for the murder of a prominent Texas lawyer has been arrested, nearly six years after the gruesome incident in 2016. He is accused of pouring gasoline on the lawyer and setting him on fire.

Steven Aubrey, 61, was arrested Wednesday from Florida and was sent to Broward County Jail.

Aubrey allegedly beat attorney Ira Tobolowsky, doused him in gasoline and set him on fire in 2016. The accused was angry because the lawyer was representing his mother in a case against him, New York Post reported.

Aubrey was involved in a legal battle with his mother over his late father's estate. The man was cut out from a will because of his erratic behavior and he warned his mother that he would seek revenge if the document was not amended.

"You have 3 days to change your mind and apologize to me or else. Or else I will make it my mission to make the rest of your life miserable, as you deserve," Aubrey wrote in a 2012 email, D Magazine reported.

Ira, who was representing the suspect's mother in the bitter court battle, soon became the target of Aubrey's rage. He had even filed a defamation suit against Aubrey.

"When it happened, it was a horrible, horrible shock. He didn't have an enemy in the world, that we were aware of," Bob Hinton, a long-time friend of Ira's, told NBC DFW on Thursday. "This thing was just crazy the way that it fell out of sight."

The lawyer was the brother of actor Stephen Tobolowsky.

Investigators believe Ira was being watched prior to his death and found a man-made hole drilled in his backyard fence.

The lawyer was preparing to leave for work on May 13, 2016, when Aubrey allegedly assaulted him in his garage.

"An investigation determined Tobolowsky entered his garage and was near his car when Aubrey assaulted him, pouring gasoline on the victim, setting him on fire, causing his death," Dallas police said in a statement. "The Medical Examiner ruled Tobolowsky's death a homicide as a result of thermal burns, smoke inhalation, and blunt force trauma."

Aubrey was charged with capital murder Wednesday. He will be extradited to Texas and could face the death penalty.

"Ultimately, information, evidence gathered during the years-long investigation resulted in us making the arrest, and he was taken into custody in Oakland Park, Florida," said Dallas Police Department spokesperson Kristin Lowman, according to WSVN-TV.

"We've been working really hard to get to this arrest," Ira's son, Michael, told CBS News. The arrest is the "amazing news we have long waited for, for a long time."