By Joel Langton
A Laughlin commander had his long Memorial Day weekend planned out.
His father, who died in 2017, left him his 2005 Suzuki Boulevard motorcycle and he planned to spend his four-day weekend getting it into top-notch shape, as
a tribute to his dad.
“This was my dad’s bike…and we brought the bike here when we moved from Germany,” Corey Norton said.
However, those weekend plans were shattered Friday at 12:07 a.m. when a neighbor was pounding on his door.
“When I opened the door, I could see the bike was completely in flames,” said a heartbroken Norton, who lives in the Ceniza Hills subdivision.
Someone had already called 911 and the Fire Department and Police Department showed up quickly, Norton said.
However, his dad’s bike was a smoldering heap. “I have a lot of memories riding this bike with my dad,” Norton said. “We’d ride in the Hill Country, just being together. Now, all I’ve got are the memories.”
“If they’d had torched my bike, my car, I’d have been pissed but this was his, and this is pretty much all I had left. I can buy a bike like it but it wouldn’t be the same. It wouldn’t be the bike he rode. “
The three vandals purchased a gas can, gas and bandanas from the Exxon at 3820 Veterans Blvd, Norton said investigators told him. Then 10 minutes later were recorded in front of Norton’s home looking his bike over.
In this day and age of technology, there’s video recordings from several homes of the three soon-to-be arsonists looking at the bike, pouring gas on the bike and lastly, lighting it into a fireball.
“It looked like the fireball caught them by surprise,” he said, almost with glee.
“What has meant a lot is the outpouring of support from Del Rio,” said Norton. We posted on Facebook and everybody has been so kind, just reaching out, showing support.”
Norton’s wife, Jessica agrees, “Corey has served 21 years in the Air Force and we have loved our four years in Del Rio and for someone to do this just hurts my heart.”
They ask that anyone with information reach out to Del Rio Police Department detective Jesus Valdez.
