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A suspected firebug has been charged with setting three separate blazes in Texas — including one that killed a 103-year-old man and his partner, according to authorities.
John Howard Ore, 36, faces four arson charges for fires stretching just a month apart — including at a restaurant and then a daycare, according to police in Denton, a city in the metro Dallas-Fort Worth area.
He is also charged with starting a December house fire that killed 103-year-old Dante Bassi and 83-year-old Marilyn Bradley-Bassi, officials said.
The blaze at their home was ruled a homicide. Ore was served with two additional warrants for arson causing serious bodily injury or death, one of which was served to him on Tuesday, records show.
John Howard Ore faces multiple arson charges for three separate fires, including one that killed an elderly couple. Denton County JailJust a day before that fatal blaze, Ore allegedly started a fire at a local restaurant at 3 a.m., causing “significant damage,” cops said.
Nearly a month later, on Jan. 21, he was allegedly caught on surveillance cameras breaking the window of a daycare with a stone, spraying a liquid through the window, and sparking a fire, cops said.
No one was injured at the restaurant or daycare fires, police said.
Ore was busted after police determined the alleged firebug used a similar method to set the fires, including video and other evidence found at each location, cops said.
Dante Bassi, 103, and his 83-year-old partner, Marilyn Bradley-Bassi, were killed in the fire in their home in December. Facebook/Kinnaree GilbertHe was initially arrested in late January and charged with two counts of arson for the daycare and restaurant fires, court records indicate.
The charges for the deadly blaze were announced Wednesday. It was not clear if Ore knew the Bassis or is thought to have specifically targeted their home.
He is held in Denton County Jail on a $2.1 million bond, cops said.
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