TikTok Couple Charged With Arson After Allegedly Setting Abandoned Charleston Home on Fire

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A TikTok couple known to tens of thousands of followers for their videos of everyday life together was arrested this week in Charleston on felony arson charges, accused of setting fire to an abandoned home — a blaze that also caused $10,000 in damage to a nearby church, according to police and local reporting.

Felicity Eatmon, 22, and Dakota Harper, 21, were arrested Tuesday after investigators obtained surveillance footage that allegedly showed Eatmon handing Harper what appears to be a piece of paper, which was then lit and placed inside the vacant home, according to a criminal complaint obtained by WCHS-TV. Both are charged with conspiracy to commit arson and first-degree arson.

What investigators say happened

Police say the fire destroyed the abandoned home and spread damage to a neighboring church, with repair costs estimated at $10,000. The criminal complaint, as reported by WCHS-TV, centers on the surveillance footage investigators recovered — footage that allegedly captures the moment the fire was set and the interaction between the two suspects immediately before.

Harper, who stands 3 feet, 9 inches tall and weighs 43 pounds according to jail records, appeared in a Kanawha County courtroom for his arraignment, where video showed his head barely topping the desk as he sat down. Eatmon, 5-foot-1, was also arraigned Tuesday. Both are being held on a $10,000 bond.

The TikTok account

Harper and Eatmon run a popular joint TikTok account that has amassed more than 28,000 followers, where they share videos of their life together. Eatmon has referred to Harper as her fiancé in the clips and has shown off her engagement ring. Some of the tattooed pair’s most popular videos — including clips of the couple kissing at the fair and hanging out by the pool — have received millions of views.

The account’s visibility has made the case a national story, but the facts of the case remain what they are: two young adults charged with serious felonies, a destroyed home, and a damaged church. Prosecutors will have to prove their case; the defendants are entitled to the presumption of innocence, and what the surveillance footage shows — and what it does not — will be for a courtroom to weigh.

Arson charges carry real weight

First-degree arson in West Virginia is among the most serious property crimes on the books, reflecting the danger fires pose not only to property but to the firefighters who answer the call and the neighbors in the path of the flames. A vacant-home fire is never contained to one building: it draws engines, crews, and water, and the smoke and embers do not respect property lines. The damaged church in this case is a reminder of how quickly a fire set in one place becomes everyone’s problem.

Conspiracy to commit arson, the second charge both face, does not require the fire itself to have been completed by both defendants — it alleges an agreement and steps taken toward the crime. The complaint’s reliance on the surveillance footage suggests investigators believe they can document both the plan and the act.

A church caught in the middle

The $10,000 in damage to the nearby church is the detail that turns a vacant-home fire into a community story. Churches in neighborhoods like the one where this fire broke out are often among the oldest, most fragile buildings on the block — and the most important. They host funerals and food pantries, after-school programs and Sunday services. When investigators put a dollar figure on the damage, it rarely captures what it costs a congregation to board up windows, cancel services, and file insurance claims while the building sits exposed to the next storm.

Fire officials will tell you that vacant-property fires are among the most dangerous calls they run: unstable structures, unknown contents, the risk of collapse with nobody inside to save but firefighters who have to go in anyway to keep the fire from spreading. This fire drew a full response, and the outcome — a destroyed home and a damaged house of worship — is exactly the scenario every fire chief in every city is trying to prevent.

Fame is not a defense

The TikTok angle will get the headlines, but it is worth being clear about what it does and does not change. Twenty-eight thousand followers and millions of views do not make a case more or less serious; the charges are the same whether the defendants are internet-famous or unknown. What the account does provide is a public record — a timeline of posts, locations, and relationships that investigators and prosecutors can reference, and that the public will inevitably scrutinize.

It is also worth remembering the other side of the follower count. Eatmon and Harper built their audience by sharing their life: the fair, the pool, the engagement ring. The people who watched those videos are real people, many of them young, and the whiplash of seeing familiar faces in a mugshot-style headline is its own kind of harm. The justice system will sort out what happened; the audience they leave behind has to sort out what to feel.

What comes next

Both defendants were arraigned Tuesday and remain held on bond. As the case moves forward, the court will set further proceedings, and prosecutors will decide whether the case goes to a grand jury. For now, the church will need repairs, the vacant home is gone, and two people who built an audience documenting their life together face the possibility of years in prison if convicted.

This is a developing story. We will update it as court proceedings move forward.