SAN DIEGO — A scorched bike, damaged banner and some flowers are all that's left of Matt Keenan's memorial.
“It's definitely been a retraumatizing experience,” Matt Keenan’s widow Laura Keenan said.
Keenan died in 2021 at 42 years old when he was killed by a wrong way driver while he was riding his bike. His memorial is placed along Camino del Rio South, the area where he died.
For his birthday, his wife placed a banner with a message and pictures to remember him at the memorial site.
Then on January 5, someone set Keenan's bike on fire, ruining the memorial. His wife Laura only found out after someone sent her a message on Facebook.
“Still in disbelief that this happened, it's extremely devastating and felt so violating too, after we finally made this spot where Matt was killed something special,” Laura Keenan said.
The suspect believed to have set the fire has been arrested. Laura tells CBS 8 that they’re being charged with arson and set to be arraigned on Monday.
CBS 8 has not independently verified this information.
“I feel some peace of mind, I hope that when we're trying to rebuild this memorial and I'm hopeful that because this person is behind bars now that I don't have to worry about someone else doing this,” Laura Keenan said.
Now the biking community is stepping up helping plan a new memorial. A new bike has been donated, it's in the process of turning into a roadside memorial fixture
The bike will be painted white in honor of Keenan and all the other bikers killed. The replacement memorial will be locked into place on Sunday, January 28.
WATCH RELATED: Memorial of bicyclist killed destroyed in Mission Valley