The Dallas Police Department has made an arrest in connection to the 2016 murder of a lawyer, according to the DPD Beat.

Dallas Police Special Investigations Unit arrested 61-year-old Steven Aubrey in connection to the May 13, 2016, death of Ira Tobolowsky.

According to Dallas Police, investigators determined that Aubrey allegedly attacked and assaulted Tobolowsky as the lawyer was preparing to leave for work from his home on Kenshire Drive in Dallas.

Investigations also showed that Tobolowsky was near his car when the attack occurred. Police said Aubrey allegedly poured gasoline on the lawyer before setting him on fire, which ultimately led to the victim’s death.

According to Dallas Police, the Medical Examiner ruled Tobolowsky’s death a homicide due to blunt force trauma, thermal burns, and smoke inhalation.

Police immediately made Aubrey a person of interest following Tobolowsky’s murder. Investigators interviewed the suspect and searched his home. 

Aubrey denied any connection with the crime, and no arrest was made. 

Tobolowsky had been representing Aubrey’s mother in a legal dispute with the suspect. 

Things turned ugly when Tobolowsky filed a defamation suit against Aubrey and his lawyer Brian Vodicka.

In the lawsuit, Tobolowsky claimed Vodicka had attacked his integrity and that Aubrey used “intentional lies, fraud, defamatory statements and dirty tricks” to get ​him to stop representing Aubrey’s mother.

The attention surrounding Tobolowsky’s lawsuit against both men snowballed after he was murdered. Vodicka was also made a person of interest in Toblowsky’s death.

According to The Dallas Morning News, Judge Eric V. Moyé, who was presiding over the lawsuit case, stepped down, saying it might be connected to the lawyer’s slaying.

Judge Don Cosby took the case and awarded $5.5 million to Tobolowsky’s family in the suit.

Aubrey maintained his claim of innocence in the murder.

“Do we think that the police are still interested or investigating us? I really hope not because there is not one thing that connects me to that heinous crime except the fact that I was in a lawsuit with this guy,” Aubrey told the DMN. “I hope they’ve moved on, but I don’t know.”

In 2017, Aubrey and Vodicka sued A. H. Belo Corporation, the parent company of the DMN, and other parties, including Tobolowsky’s widow, for making and publishing defamatory statements and articles about them.

Mike Wilson, then-editor of The Dallas Morning News, argued the paper reported “fairly and accurately” on the issue.

“We look forward to our pending motions for sanctions and attorneys’ fees against Aubrey and Vodicka,” said Wilson.

Aubrey and Vodicka later dropped the lawsuit for unexplained reasons.

Dallas Police did not arrest Vodicka for any wrongdoing. However, Aubrey, arrested in Oakland Park, Florida, is now facing a capital murder charge for Tobolowsky’s death.

After notification of the arrest, Mark Hefflefinger, a family friend and officemate of Ira Tobolowsky, said that “everyone is just very emotional” and wants to know what happened to their father, husband, and friend.

“It’s good news to everybody,” Hefflefinger said. “Everybody wants the truth.”