West Virginia couple Felicity Eatmon and Dakota Harper were arrested on charges of first-degree arson and conspiracy to commit arson in Charleston on Sept. 29, local WCHS-TV news reported.
That same day, a video of the two being arraigned went viral on Instagram, amassing more than 21 million views on the WCHS-TV account.
This isn't the first time the couple has gone viral online.
Eatmon, 22, and Harper, 21, have a notable presence on TikTok, where they share life updates and personal photos. The two are also central figures on a local Charleston influencer's account, who has filmed himself helping Harper with homelessness.
Who are Felicity Eatmon and Dakota Harper?
Eatmon is a TikTok influencer with over 72,000 followersas of writing. She gained notable attention in August when she shared
a TikTok now with over 2 million views; viewers found her overuse of the word "literally" amusing, per comments on the post.
On Oct. 19, she posted a video that got over 19.8 million views, showing her picking up Harper and holding him in a Wendy's restaurant. "Why you picking him up like he’s your toddler son," one user wrote in a comment that received more than 117,800 likes.
Harper stands 3 feet, 9 inches tall and weighs 43 pounds, and Eatmon is 5 feet, 1 inch tall, according to jail records for Eatmon and Harper in the West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation database. Their height difference is part of what made them viral.
@felicity.harper20 just chilling with my man's love all the support thank you guys for getting me to 1 million subscribers
♬ original sound - ⬆️
But Eatmon and Harper aren't only known for the videos they post themselves.
Much of their internet fame comes from influencer Jake Griffith, who goes by @korcle on Instagram. He has over 1.1 million followers, and he's one of Harper's close friends. He's been helping out Harper since 2024, when Harper was homeless. Griffith helped Harper buy essential items and put him up in hotels. Since then, Griffith has filmed all their escapades online. The videos regularly achieve millions of views.
On March 10, 2025, Griffith shared a video that documented Harper and Eatmon's first date. It now has over 16.6 million views.
Influencer Jake Griffith reacts to Dakota Harper's arrest
In a comment provided to USA TODAY on Oct. 8, Griffith called Harper's arrest "genuinely disappointing" and said, "I got to see a side of him that I don’t think a lot of people ever really saw."
Griffith also recalled the last time he saw Harper, which he filmed and shared on Instagram on Sept. 26.
"We talked for a bit and I tried to give Dakota some advice while also making it clear I needed to keep my distance. I remember telling him to surprise everybody and prove people wrong. Told him he knew right from wrong and that he was capable of making better choices. Then when I saw the news about the alleged arson, I thought … Well, safe to say he surprised everybody, just not in the way I meant," Griffith said.
"I don’t condone any illegal behavior. But I also don’t have any hatred toward either of them. ... I just wish things had turned out different, and I hope they both eventually get the help they need," he added.
Harper and Eatmon also have a subreddit dedicated to them, where users track their escapades. Created in April 2025, it has over 62,000 members.
One video shared on the subreddit on Oct. 4 shows footage of the fire and Harper and Eatmon reacting emotionally at the scene. "We were asleep, and we smelled it," Eatmon says in the clip.
Why were Felicity Eatmon and Dakota Harper charged with arson?
The two allegedly set fire to a vacant Charleston home before midnight on Sept. 27, which caused roughly $10,000 in damage to the adjacent Canaan United Methodist Church, according to initial reporting from WCHS-TV.
A criminal complaint said investigators obtained a surveillance video that showed the couple in an adjacent alleyway before the fire, and Eatmon can be seen giving Harper what appears to be a piece of paper on fire, according to WCHS-TV.
On Oct. 6, both Harper and Eatmon appeared in court for initial hearings. The court raised Harper's bond from $10,000 to $20,000, while Eatmon's bond remained at $10,000.
USA TODAY has reached out to Harper's and Eatmon's attorneys through WV Public Defender Services.
WCHS-TV again found success by sharing a video of Eatmon being brought into the courtroom wearing an orange jumpsuit on Oct. 6, which amassed more than 13 million views in two days.
The engagement has sparked memes about the couple on social media. Each one seems to make them more famous.
For instance, on Oct. 7, one TikToker shared a video edit, now with over 297,000 views, that compiled several clips of Harper set to fast-paced electronic music. One clip showed Harper giving the camera the middle finger, sourced from his Sept. 27 arraignment video.
Another viral meme about the couple, with more than 2 million views on TikTok, follows the current Rumpelstiltskin meme trend, which features an AI-generated video of a creepy Rumpelstiltskin approaching a crying woman and telling her to shh. In the viral remake, Harper plays Rumpelstiltskin, and Eatmon plays the crying woman.
Some users in the meme's comment section are surprised that they're in tune with all the internet humor references at play. "I have no one to send this to," quips one comment with over 7,000 likes.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: TikTok couple Dakota Harper, Felicity Eatmon charged with felony arson
