A Michigan man has been arrested after police said he drove over 700 miles to set fire to the Pennsylvania home of a man who had communicated with his ex-girlfriend online.
The Bensalem Police Department said 21-year-old Harrison Jones, of Rockford, Mich., was arrested for setting fire to a home with six people inside.
The people inside were hospitalized, while the family’s two dogs, Trey and Jett, were unable to escape the home and died.
Officials said the people inside the home were able to escape thanks to the mom, who heard suspicious noises, before finding the fire and evacuating her family, adding that some family members even had to jump out of second-story windows to escape the flames.
“It’s a miracle they all survived,” Bensalem Public Safety Director William McVey said during a Monday morning press conference. “And we credit the mother of that house for taking the actions she did to protect her family and ensure that they all lived.”
Bensalem Fire Rescue and Bensalem Police Detectives began investigating the cause of the fire, and determined that the fire appeared to be “intentionally set and incendiary in nature.”
Officials said the only lead in the case was a grainy image of a black sedan from a neighbor’s surveillance system.
The video captured a vehicle pulling up to the home around 5 a.m. that morning. A suspect is seen exiting the vehicle, walking towards the back of the home, where officials say he stayed for over ten minutes, before he is seen running away from the house and speeding off.
About 30 seconds later, video shows an explosion erupting as the house goes up in flames.
Two days after the fire, investigators were able to trace the vehicle back to Jones, obtain an arrest warrant, and take him into custody.
Investigators added that Jones also had apparent burns on his arm.
Officials confirmed that Jones is the ex-boyfriend of a woman from Michigan who had been in an online relationship with a male resident in the Bensalem house since 2023. However, a motive for the fire is still being investigated.
Court documents obtained by FOX 29 Philadelphia say Jones was supposed to drive his ex-girlfriend to meet the man she was communicating with in Bensalem, to a local hotel in the near future. Instead, investigators say he drove to Bensalem on his own with “murderous intentions.”
“He drove over 730 miles, 11 hours, to do what he did and then drove directly back home,” McVey said during the press conference.
Officials said Jones is charged with six counts of attempted homicide, arson and related offenses. He is currently awaiting extradition back to Pennsylvania.
According to a GoFundMe page, the family, identified as “Andrew and Stacy Zalenski, along with their two children, Alex and Ava, and Stacy’s parents, Joe and Karen Wendowski, lost everything.”
“Our family members are currently going through a horrendous time in their lives. If you have animals, you know they are a part of your family, and they meant everything to this family,” the post reads.
“Stacy tried to do everything she could to save them, risking her life going back into the burning home but needed to jump out of the second story window because she felt herself losing consciousness.”
The family member who created the GoFundMe page added that the Zalenski family has “been through so much within the past three years, with Stacy fighting a long, hard battle with cancer and now losing their home.”
“They are a gracious, loving, caring, generous family, and nobody deserves to go through everything that they have been through. It has been hard enough dealing with cancer and Stacy almost losing her life multiple times, to now losing their beloved dogs, precious memories, and everything they own and have worked so hard for over the years.”
“This is a family’s worst nightmare to be asleep in their home, not knowing that a stranger broke into their home, and attempted to take their lives by setting their home on fire,” Bucks County District Attorney Jennifer Schorn told FOX 29.
“This family suffered such inconceivable loss. This defendant’s actions are incomprehensible, and he will be held accountable.”
In addition to the GoFundMe, a family member also started a fundraiser with the Philadelphia Animal Welfare Society to honor their memory. A PAWS spokesperson told FOX 29 they plan to create a plaque to dedicate one of their kennels to Trey and Jett for their heroism.
