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Background: Fawn Ridge Court in Greenville, Wis., where Nicholas Grundman allegedly set a house on fire (Google Maps). Inset: Nicholas Grundman (Outagamie County Sheriff’s Office).
A deeply unsettling incident unfolded in Wisconsin when a man, amidst a turbulent divorce, allegedly attempted to set his estranged wife ablaze in her own home. Nicholas Grundman, aged 47, now faces serious charges including attempted murder, arson, and stalking. The charges come after authorities say he tried to ignite his wife’s house while she was inside.
The troubling saga began when the couple’s relationship started unraveling, leading Grundman’s wife to file for divorce in February. The couple had been married for approximately 18 months, but according to the criminal complaint, issues stemmed from Grundman’s alleged alcoholism and inability to maintain employment, factors which significantly strained their marriage.
In an incident earlier this year, the situation reached a boiling point. Returning home to find Grundman drunk and recently unemployed, his wife demanded that he vacate the premises. This confrontation set the stage for the dramatic events that would follow.
Just past midnight on March 19, emergency services received a distressing 911 call about a blaze at a home on Fawn Ridge Court in Greenville, Wisconsin. The caller, identified as Grundman’s wife, reported that her garage was engulfed in flames. Fortunately, she managed to escape unharmed with her three cats and two dogs. She recounted to police how one of her cats had woken her by pawing at her face, alerting her to the danger. She quickly realized her house was rapidly filling with smoke.
Once safely outside, she discovered the fire emanated from the garage. Displaying quick thinking, she used a fire extinguisher to douse the flames, though not before her car and some personal items belonging to her son suffered damage.
According to the complaint, Grundman’s wife spoke to police days later about her situation with Grundman. She said that after telling him to leave the house, she paid for him to stay at a hotel first and then an Airbnb. He eventually left the Airbnb and she lost track of where he was staying in the middle of March. However, he then started to text and call her “almost to the point of harassment,” allegedly every 30 minutes throughout the night.
On the day of the fire, Grundman’s wife called him to tell him to stop contacting her. He allegedly told her, “If I can’t have you, no one is going to have you.” He then hung up on her.
Police asked Grundman’s wife if she was fearful of her estranged husband, and she replied, “Absolutely.”
Investigators said they found accelerant at the scene of the fire as well as a bottle of lighter fluid.
On March 31, police went to a construction site where Grundman was working and placed him under arrest. He was allegedly carrying a backpack with a loaded Ruger Security-9 handgun that his wife said he had taken with him when she kicked him out of the house. When police asked him if he had been at the house, he said, “I wasn’t technically there, but I was being stupid.” He explained that while he did not go in the house, he regularly drove past the house to see if his wife was having someone over.
Grundman told police that March 18, the night the fire was allegedly set, was one of his “driving around days.” Police noted in the complaint that during this line of questioning, Grundman’s voice began to “shake.” Grundman told police that he “fell off the wagon” that night and drank “two 30 packs” of beer before driving past his wife’s house.
When police asked Grundman if he still had access to his wife’s garage, he “put his head down” and answered, “Yes, sir.” He then admitted that he accessed the garage on the night of the fire. After police told him that further testing would reveal proof that an accelerant was used, Grundman allegedly confessed that he “used gasoline” and “put a little bit next to the fridge.” He allegedly dumped more gasoline on the workbench in the garage then set it on fire with a lighter.
Grundman denied that he tried to kill his estranged wife.
Grundman was charged with attempted first-degree intentional homicide, two counts of arson, stalking, three counts of criminal damage to a property, and carrying a concealed weapon. He is currently in custody at the Outagamie County Jail, where he is being held on $1 million cash bond. His next court appearance is scheduled for April 14.