PIERCE COUNTY, Wash. — A 26-year-old Pierce County man was arrested Monday after deputies with the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department said he set fire to his grandparents’ home, killing them both.
Deputies said they first responded to the fire at the home near Vaughn at about 8:30 p.m. Sunday.
According to deputies, witnesses reported hearing an explosion at the house, and it was fully engulfed in flames when officials arrived.
Firefighters with the Key Peninsula Fire Department found the couple, a 71-year-old man and a 73-year-old woman, dead in the basement.
When deputies searched the home, they said they found evidence that indicated a homicide and arson had occurred. They also found that a car was missing from the home.
Deputies said they determined the man and woman lived at the home with their 26-year-old grandson and began looking for him and the missing car.
At about 4 a.m., deputies said the missing car was found parked outside a Lakewood apartment complex. They then determined that the mother of the grandson’s girlfriend lived at the apartment complex.
Around 7:30 a.m., the grandson was arrested by the department’s SWAT Team.
Deputies said the 26-year-old was be booked into the Pierce County Jail on investigation of two counts of first-degree murder.
© 2020 Cox Media Group
