A man from Michigan was arrested for driving over 700 miles to set fire to a Pennsylvania home where a man who had been communicating with his ex-girlfriend online lived. The incident occurred in Bensalem, Pennsylvania, where 21-year-old Harrison Jones, of Rockford, Mich., was apprehended for setting fire to a home with six individuals inside.
The occupants of the house, including two dogs named Trey and Jett, were hospitalized after the fire, but unfortunately, the two dogs did not survive. The family managed to escape the blaze thanks to the quick thinking of the mother, who heard suspicious noises and alerted her family to evacuate the house. Some family members had to jump from second-story windows to escape the flames.
Authorities from Bensalem Fire Rescue and Bensalem Police Detectives determined that the fire was intentionally set and incendiary in nature. The only lead in the case was a blurry image of a black sedan captured by a neighbor’s surveillance system, showing a suspect arriving at the home, spending over ten minutes at the back of the house, and then fleeing before the house went up in flames.
Two days after the fire, investigators traced the vehicle back to Jones, who was found to have burns on his arm. It was revealed that Jones was the ex-boyfriend of a woman from Michigan who had been in an online relationship with a male resident of the Bensalem house since 2023. The motive for the arson is still under investigation.
Jones faces charges of six counts of attempted homicide, arson, and related offenses. He is awaiting extradition back to Pennsylvania. A GoFundMe page has been set up for the family affected by the fire, identified as Andrew and Stacy Zalenski, along with their children and Stacy’s parents, who lost everything in the blaze.
The family has been through significant challenges in recent years, with Stacy battling cancer and now coping with the loss of their home and pets. The community has rallied around the family, with fundraisers set up to support them during this difficult time. The Philadelphia Animal Welfare Society plans to honor the memory of the family’s dogs, Trey and Jett, by dedicating a kennel to them for their heroism in the face of tragedy.
