A Michigan man was arrested on Monday after police in Pennsylvania said he drove over 11 hours to burn down the house of a man who was in a long-distance relationship with his ex-girlfriend.
Harrison Jones, 21, was charged with six counts of attempted criminal homicide, arson and other offenses in connection to the fire, which killed two dogs and left a family of six with injuries last week, the Bensalem Police Department announced.
The family was asleep when the fire started, but the mother told law enforcement that she woke up to a suspicious noise on the first floor of the house at around 5 a.m., according to a criminal complaint obtained by HuffPost. She told detectives she saw a man dressed in a dark colored hooded sweatshirt, but initially believed it was her son.
Not long after, she noticed the fire in the kitchen and living room area and began to evacuate her family, according to the complaint.
Surveillance footage reviewed by HuffPost shows an individual who police suspect to be Jones running back from the direction of the house to a parked car before leaving the area. Shortly after the car drives off, the house can be seen quickly catching fire.
Police and fire officials responded to the blaze at around 5:22 a.m.; by that time, the house had been engulfed in flames and the six adult residents had evacuated. Police noted that some of the six had jumped out of a second-story window to escape.
The residents were taken to a local hospital to treat their injuries, which included burns and severe smoke inhalation, according to the complaint.
A GoFundMe launched by a relative identified them as Andrew and Stacy Zalenski; their children, Alex and Ava; and Stacy’s parents, Joe and Karen Wendowski. Andrew Zalenski was induced into a coma due to severe smoke inhalation, according to the GoFundMe.
The family’s two dogs, Trey and Jett, died in the fire. According to the GoFundMe, Stacy Zalenski “tried to do everything she could to save them, risking her life going back into the burning home,” but she “needed to jump out of the second story window because she felt herself losing consciousness.”
Authorities were able to track Jones’ vehicle entering and leaving the township as it passed through an automated license plate reader, per the criminal complaint.
Investigators learned that one of the home’s residents was in a long-distance relationship with Jones’ ex-girlfriend and that she had planned to visit in the coming week. The complaint said Jones and the woman dated in high school and since then had remained “good friends.” She had planned on having Jones drive her to Bensalem for the meeting, police said.
Deputies from the Kent County Sheriff’s Office in Michigan conducted a search of Jones’ home, where they found burn cream, gauze and lock picks in his bedroom, according to the complaint. Police also said that Jones had what appeared to be burns on his arm.
According to the complaint, Jones told police he “was never in Pennsylvania.”
It’s unclear if Jones has an attorney representing him. He is awaiting extradition from Michigan to Pennsylvania to face the charges.
In a statement to local TV station Fox 29, the Zalenski family thanked first responders for their quick actions on the night of the fire as well as GoFundMe donors for their support.
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“This has been one of the darkest and most difficult times in our lives, however, the kindness and love we’ve received from so many around us has given us so much hope and inspiration,” the statement said.