House Explosion Guy Appears in Bond Court, Doesn't Speak

A Joliet man charged with arson for allegedly blowing up his home—while he was still inside it—made a brief appearance in bond court Wednesday.

James Borg, 44, did not speak during the afternoon hearing.

Will County Judge Roger Rickmon set a November pretrial date and said that if Borg somehow comes up with $750,000 bond and gets out of jail, he is to stay away from Daniel Murphy and Juanita Crisostomo.

Borg's attorney, Ryan Kosztya, said Murphy was Borg's landlord and Crisostomo lived next door to the 135 S.E. Circle Drive house Borg allegedly blew up in July.

Borg set off the explosion by intentionally tampering with a gas line, police said. He faces three counts of aggravated arson and one count of residential arson.

Borg shared the house with 52-year-old Anne Gay, who was reported missing in mid-June. Gay's whereabouts remain unknown.

Police investigating Gay's disappearance searched the house outside Joliet with a cadaver dog less than a week before the explosion. The dog indicated a corpse had been inside the residence just days earlier, said Deputy Chief Ken Kaupas of the Will county Sheriff's Department.

Borg was on the second floor of the house when it blew up, Kaupas said. A neighbor pulled him out of the burning building.

Borg suffered burns to more than 70 percent of his body and was in a coma for two months, Kosztya said.

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