Man Severely Burned in House Explosion Faces Arson Charges

A man severely burned in a July house explosion while under scrutiny from police in connection with his girlfriend's disappearance was charged with arson.

James Borg, 44, was jailed Tuesday. He is being held on $750,000 bond.

Borg intentionally tampered with a gas line and blew up his Southeast Circle Drive home, police said at the time of the explosion.

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

Police searched the house outside Joliet with a cadaver dog less than a week before the explosion. The dog indicated a corpse had been inside an east Joliet house 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 70 percent of his body.

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