Police: Husband Used Vodka To Ignite Fatal Duquesne Fire
DUQUESNE (KDKA) -- There's new information about the suspect accused of setting a fire at a home in Duquesne Tuesday afternoon that killed his wife.
Late Tuesday night, after police charged James Karr with homicide and arson in his wife's death, he spoke to reporters as he was being led away.
He said: "I'm sorry. It was an accident. I'm sorry for Reeny's parents. I'm sorry for everybody."
Back on Friendship Street, neighbors and friends erected a makeshift memorial on Wednesday. Neighbor Tom Say heard what the defendant said on TV and was not impressed.
"It was no accident," said Say. "He done it deliberately and I don't care what he says."
According to the criminal complaint, James Karr told police he went inside his wife's home and an argument began.
According to his version of events, his estranged wife, Maureen Gecan-Karr came at him with an axe. He pushed her away, and she fell back and hit her head against a wall.
Karr then told police that the victim lay unresponsive on the floor.
Police say after attempting to resuscitate her unsuccessfully, he moved her to the living room, bound her hands behind her back with wire, poured vodka on her, and then made a trail of vodka to the door, lit the vodka on fire and left out the back door.
While many doubt that vodka alone could generate flames of that intensity, one thing is certain among the victim's neighbors.
"It's sad, very sad, cause she was a good woman," Say said.
A protection for abuse petition written in the wife's own hand Dec. 15 claimed he was threatening to set the house on fire even then.
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