Man allegedly sets fire to coastal home Police say N.H. resident attacked girlfriend with ice pick before arson attempt

BAR HARBOR – A New Hampshire man allegedly attacked his girlfriend with an ice pick Thursday morning and then fled north to set her family’s summer home in the village of Salisbury Cove on fire – as he remained inside of it.

Dennis Freda, 47, of Center Ossipee, N.H., was unconscious on the second floor of the burning 188-year-old farmhouse on the Hadley Point Road on Thursday night when he was rescued by police and fire crews.

Freda was taken to Maine Coast Memorial Hospital in Ellsworth and then moved to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, where he was in serious condition for smoke inhalation injuries Friday, police officials said.

Freda’s unidentified victim received treatment at a New Hampshire hospital for the stab wound. The 42-year-old woman is from North Conway, N.H., and the attack and apparent arson are examples of domestic violence crimes, according to Maine State Police spokesman Stephen McCausland.

“Fire marshals say that the Bar Harbor police did an exceptional job tracking this man down, working with family members and preserving the scene so that no one else was hurt in this bizarre incident,” McCausland said.

Police in Bar Harbor had been alerted Thursday evening by police in Bartlett, N.H., to be on the lookout for the fugitive. The Bartlett police had issued an arrest warrant for Freda earlier that day because of the alleged ice pick assault.

The situation escalated when Freda’s brother called Bar Harbor police from California and said that the family was concerned about his well-being. Freda apparently had made comments to the brother about setting fire to the farmhouse.

“It was reported through his relatives that gasoline had been spread around the house,” Bar Harbor Police Chief Nate Young said Friday afternoon. “We went to check on the house … and realized that the house was actually on fire.”

Young and Sgt. David Kerns saw Freda moving downstairs in the two-story wooden home, according to the chief.

“We tried to get him to exit, which he obviously did not want to do,” Young said. “He disappeared from view.”

Crews from the Fire Department, which had followed the two officers to the scene, moved to quell the flames and find Freda. The New Hampshire man was alone in the burning farmhouse, police officials said.

“The upstairs bedroom was fully engulfed, the downstairs kitchen was visibly engulfed in flames, the house was filling up quickly with smoke,” Young said. “The Fire Department did a tremendous job rescuing the suspect.”

The home is owned by the Stearns family, police said. Shaken family members had gathered Friday afternoon in another house just down the street, but declined to comment.

By late morning Friday, a cold rain fell on the charred red farmhouse and on investigators from the Bar Harbor Police Department, the Maine State Police and the State Fire Marshal’s Office who were working at the scene. Yellow police tape blocked the 1818 house, called “The Farm,” from the little-traveled road and quiet neighborhood around it.

“The upstairs has some significant fire damage,” Sgt. Tim York of the State Fire Marshall’s Office said at the scene. “The first floor has mainly heat, smoke and water damage.”

Freda had used gasoline to start several fires throughout the home, according to police officials.

Police Chief Tim Connifey of Bartlett, N.H., wouldn’t comment on whether or not Freda had a previous criminal record. He did say that the victim came into the station Thursday morning and told an officer that she had been involved in an assault.

“Police responded to the residence where the alleged assault had taken place, and Mr. Freda had already fled the scene,” he said. “It’s currently under investigation.”

Connifey, who didn’t know Freda’s occupation, said his department was working in cooperation with those in Maine “to bring the case to a successful conclusion.”

“We’re hoping to bring him back to New Hampshire, to extradite him here to face charges,” he said.

Hancock County District Attorney Michael Povich said his office filed a complaint against Freda Friday afternoon for arson and burglary.

“We’ve got an arrest warrant pending his release from the hospital,” Povich said. “Right now our intention would be to deal with his charges here first. When you’re talking about a Class A arson, you don’t easily say, ‘Well, that’s a minor thing.'”

The maximum sentence for Class A arson is 30 years, Povich said.

“This one is unusual,” he said, adding that most arsonists don’t remain in burning buildings. “It’s a unique set of facts.”

Laurie Fogelman, executive director of The Next Step, the domestic violence project that serves Hancock and Washington counties, said the alleged attack and arson seem to fit the pattern of controlling behavior that is typical of an abusive relationship.

“I think it’s one more level of controlling and punishing and hurting the whole family, the attempt to burn down the place that the whole family, I’m sure, loved very much,” she said. “It certainly would be consistent with patterns seen many times.”