ORONO – The grandson of the man who died from burns after Ashton Moores set his Forest Avenue house on fire in 1972 had one question Thursday: “Why was he on the streets?”

“This guy killed my gramp, with intent,” said Daniel LaPointe, 54, grandson of Edmund LaPointe. “I think [Ashton Moores] was fully aware that he killed my grandfather.”

Daniel LaPointe sat Thursday at his father’s kitchen table in Orono, speaking softly about how Moores took away his grandfather, who was 76 when he died. Moores was charged this week with murdering Christina Simonin of Bangor.

LaPointe said his grandfather was known by “everybody in old Orono” by his nickname “Cap” because he was captain of the Orono High School football team in his youth.

Moores, who was 24 and went by the name Aston L. Mooers at the time, admitted to setting the 1972 blaze after LaPointe refused to hire him to do day labor. Daniel LaPointe, who was 19 at the time, said Moores had worked for his grandfather before, but was turned away the day the fire was set.

“The guy set fire to the attached shed on my grandfather’s home in downtown Orono,” Daniel LaPointe said. “My grandfather, in escaping the fire, went through the fire and died as a result of the flames.”

More than 50 percent of the elder LaPointe’s body was burned as he apparently crawled barefoot through the shed behind his kitchen that was engulfed in flames. His clothing caught fire as he did so.

Moores, who was on parole from the Men’s Correctional Center in Windham, lived on Margin Street in Orono at the time. He had moved to Orono several months before he set the fire to attend meat-cutting school in a neighboring town.

In Superior Court testimony in Bangor, Moores said that setting fires was “something I can’t control.” He said he attempted to put out the fire at LaPointe’s home but was unable to stop the flames.

Daniel LaPointe doesn’t believe Moores’ testimony.

“He probably watched the firefighters come to the scene,” he said. “You can destroy the fabric of a family overnight.”

He said his grandfather “was a local character” and that he operated the last working farm in the center of the town of Orono.

“All the kids played and assisted in caring for the horses,” he remembered.

Moores was sentenced June 27, 1973, to eight to 20 years in Maine State Prison at Thomaston for the arson that killed LaPointe. After serving eight years, Moores was released, and a couple of months later he was arrested for setting fires in Waterville.

The list of arsons and other crimes continues for years, with Moores going in and out of jail and state prison.

“With the nature of the mayhem – it seems a bit extreme that he would be free,” Daniel LaPointe said. “I hope something can be done.”

Psychologists have testified that Moores had a reduced mental state and that more should have been done to address his mental issues, especially given his long criminal record, Daniel LaPointe said.

“Shame on the DA’s office for letting him loose,” he said. “Shame on the mental health providers.

“Why would you want to have a dragon on the loose? Why? When you have so many wooden houses around,” he said.