Deleon
A Derby man suffering from schizophrenia poured gasoline throughout his family’s New Haven Avenue home and set in on fire as six people slept inside, according to an arrest warrant.
The man then allegedly drove to Maryland and back before surrendering peacefully to a police lieutenant at the scene of the crime that night.
The man, 21-year-old Dominick Deleon, has been charged with first-degree arson — a felony punishable by up to 25 years in prison — in connection with the July blaze.
According to an arrest warrant in the case, police and firefighters were sent to the multi-family home on New Haven Avenue about 4:18 a.m. July 26.
Deleon’s mother told police that Deleon had poured gasoline throughout the house and then set it on fire.
The family had put out the flames by the time firefighters arrived, but the odor of gasoline was still strong throughout the home.
A state police dog used for arson investigations would later pinpoint five spots in the home where it detected accelerants.
Meanwhile Deleon had allegedly fled the scene in his sister’s Honda Accord.
Deleon’s mother told police Deleon had been released from Griffin Hospital the day before after a two-week stay for a mental health evaluation. She said she wasn’t sure whether Deleon had taken medications he had been prescribed at the hospital.
Cops put out a Silver Alert for Deleon and his sister’s car.
Then, about 11:15 a.m., Deleon’s mother got a phone call from an area code in Maryland, according to the warrant. The caller was Deleon, who did not remember what had happened that morning.
Deleon’s mother asked him where he was, and he said he was at a gas station, but that he didn’t know where.
Eventually Deleon put a man on the phone who said they were in Maryland. She asked the man to keep Deleon there, but the phone line then went dead.
The warrant does not indicate whether there was a specific reason for Deleon to have traveled to Maryland.
About an hour after the phone call, Maryland state police notified Derby cops that Deleon’s sister’s car was spotted by a license plate reader traveling north on Interstate 95 in Baltimore.
Figuring Deleon might be headed back toward Connecticut, police set up surveillance at his family’s home, as well as other addresses with which he was associated.
About 7:45 p.m. Deleon was seen driving back to his house and walking inside, after which six people who had been in the home left quickly as cops converged around it.
Deleon’s sister got him to come outside and talk to Derby Police Lt. Justin Stanko.
After speaking with Stanko Deleon eventually agreed to go to the hospital for a psychiatric evaluation.
Deleon has been behind bars since his Aug. 2 arrest in the case and is currently at Garner Correctional Institution in Newtown, which houses prisoners suffering from mental health issues.
He is scheduled to return to Superior Court in Milford Oct. 11.
