A Portsmouth fire case that has already spent nearly a year winding through competency hearings, a state psychiatric hospital, and an insanity plea has now taken another major turn.
A Scioto County grand jury has returned a superseding indictment against 60-year-old Glenn Flory, adding an attempted murder charge to a case that began with a Walnut Street house fire last October.
Flory, whose address is listed as unknown, is now indicted on:
- Attempted murder
- Three counts of aggravated arson
- Arson
According to the indictment, prosecutors allege that on October 11, 2025, Flory used fire or an explosion to knowingly create a substantial risk of serious physical harm to another person. Another count alleges he knowingly caused physical harm to an occupied house by means of fire or explosion.
The new indictment was filed October 6.
It Started With a Morning House Fire
SCDN first reported on the case nearly a year ago after Portsmouth police and firefighters were called to Walnut Street shortly after 7 a.m. for a structure fire.
Fire crews rushed to the scene while AEP and Columbia Gas were contacted to shut off utilities. The State Fire Marshal’s Office was called to investigate, and the Red Cross responded to help the people displaced by the blaze.
Witnesses told officers at the time that the fire appeared to have started on the porch before spreading.
Residents reportedly lost everything inside.
Police detained Flory at the scene, but he was first taken to Southern Ohio Medical Center for treatment while investigators remained there.
After receiving medical treatment, he was taken to the Scioto County Jail and initially booked on an aggravated arson charge.
That was only the beginning of what would become a lengthy court case.
Competency Questions Put Case on Hold
By February 2026, the case had shifted from simply determining what happened at the fire to determining whether Flory was mentally competent to proceed through court.
A competency and sanity hearing was scheduled for February 26.
Days later, on March 2, Scioto County Common Pleas Court ordered Flory transported to Appalachian Behavioral Healthcare in Athens.
He remained involved with the state psychiatric facility for months.
In June, the court denied a request from Flory to dismiss his attorney and appoint new counsel. Court records at the time listed his address as Appalachian Behavioral Healthcare.
Another competency and sanity hearing was scheduled for August.
Flory was then ordered transported back to Scioto County from the Athens facility for an August 19 hearing.
Back to Jail — Then an Insanity Plea
On August 20, the court ordered Flory held in the Scioto County Jail pending further proceedings and continued his $100,000 cash or surety bond.
The case took another significant turn September 1.
The court accepted a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity and ordered an evaluation of Flory’s mental condition at the time of the alleged offenses.
A separate order directing that sanity evaluation was filed September 4.
That distinction matters. Competency deals with whether a defendant is currently capable of understanding the proceedings and helping with his defense. A not-guilty-by-reason-of-insanity plea focuses on the defendant’s mental condition when the alleged crime happened.
Then Came the New Indictment
While those mental-health issues were still being addressed, prosecutors went back to the grand jury.
On October 6, the court docket shows a superseding indictment was filed.
Instead of the case remaining centered on the original aggravated arson allegation, Flory now faces the far more serious charge of attempted murder, along with three aggravated arson counts and an arson count.
The indictment means prosecutors are alleging the October 2025 fire was not simply a property crime but involved conduct they say created a risk of serious physical harm to another person.
A summons on the new indictment was issued to the Scioto County Sheriff on October 7.
Flory is scheduled for a hearing on the indictment on October 28 at 8:30 a.m.
He also has a final pretrial currently scheduled for October 20.
Nearly one year after firefighters responded to the Walnut Street blaze, the case has now grown from a single aggravated arson arrest into an attempted murder prosecution complicated by months of competency proceedings and an insanity defense.
The charges are allegations. Flory is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.
