UPI ARCHIVES JAN. 12, 1984
Authorities have charged a 38-year-old unemployed drifter with setting...
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Authorities have charged a 38-year-old unemployed drifter with setting a pre-dawn fire that killed three elderly residents of an apartment house on the edge of Atlantic City's casino strip.
Joseph Grandison had been evicted from his apartment on the second floor of the building Friday, investigators said.
The fire was set in several different places inside the same apartment but authorities would not say if the eviction was considered a motive in the case.
Grandison was taken into custody Tuesday night in a bar near the burned-out building and was later charged with three counts of murder and one count of arson. During an arraignment Wednesday, Municipal Court Judge Steven Kaplan set bail at $350,000 and ordered the suspect held in the Atlantic County Jail.
Battalion Chief John Brenner said 'street work in the area' led to the arrest.
'Grandison is an unemployed drifter who appears to have been in this area for some time,' the chief said. 'This particular street was apparently his turf.'
The intense blaze erupted about 12:30 a.m. Monday in a vacant apartment on the second floor of the brick-and-frame apartment house, about 1 blocks from the city's Boardwalk casino strip.
Authorities found the bodies of Stephen and Flora Andrake, both 67, about 4 feet from the door to a fourth-floor fire exit. The body of Samuel Russello, 87, was discovered lying in the bedroom of his third-floor apartment.
All three victims died of asphyxiation, autopsies showed.
Two other residents and three firemen were treated for minor injuries at the Atlantic City Medical Center
Contributor: Deborah Polk (49739099)
Authorities have charged a 38-year-old unemployed drifter with setting...
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Authorities have charged a 38-year-old unemployed drifter with setting a pre-dawn fire that killed three elderly residents of an apartment house on the edge of Atlantic City's casino strip.
Joseph Grandison had been evicted from his apartment on the second floor of the building Friday, investigators said.
The fire was set in several different places inside the same apartment but authorities would not say if the eviction was considered a motive in the case.
Grandison was taken into custody Tuesday night in a bar near the burned-out building and was later charged with three counts of murder and one count of arson. During an arraignment Wednesday, Municipal Court Judge Steven Kaplan set bail at $350,000 and ordered the suspect held in the Atlantic County Jail.
Battalion Chief John Brenner said 'street work in the area' led to the arrest.
'Grandison is an unemployed drifter who appears to have been in this area for some time,' the chief said. 'This particular street was apparently his turf.'
The intense blaze erupted about 12:30 a.m. Monday in a vacant apartment on the second floor of the brick-and-frame apartment house, about 1 blocks from the city's Boardwalk casino strip.
Authorities found the bodies of Stephen and Flora Andrake, both 67, about 4 feet from the door to a fourth-floor fire exit. The body of Samuel Russello, 87, was discovered lying in the bedroom of his third-floor apartment.
All three victims died of asphyxiation, autopsies showed.
Two other residents and three firemen were treated for minor injuries at the Atlantic City Medical Center
Contributor: Deborah Polk (49739099)
UPI ARCHIVES JAN. 12, 1984
Authorities have charged a 38-year-old unemployed drifter with setting...
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Authorities have charged a 38-year-old unemployed drifter with setting a pre-dawn fire that killed three elderly residents of an apartment house on the edge of Atlantic City's casino strip.
Joseph Grandison had been evicted from his apartment on the second floor of the building Friday, investigators said.
The fire was set in several different places inside the same apartment but authorities would not say if the eviction was considered a motive in the case.
Grandison was taken into custody Tuesday night in a bar near the burned-out building and was later charged with three counts of murder and one count of arson. During an arraignment Wednesday, Municipal Court Judge Steven Kaplan set bail at $350,000 and ordered the suspect held in the Atlantic County Jail.
Battalion Chief John Brenner said 'street work in the area' led to the arrest.
'Grandison is an unemployed drifter who appears to have been in this area for some time,' the chief said. 'This particular street was apparently his turf.'
The intense blaze erupted about 12:30 a.m. Monday in a vacant apartment on the second floor of the brick-and-frame apartment house, about 1 blocks from the city's Boardwalk casino strip.
Authorities found the bodies of Stephen and Flora Andrake, both 67, about 4 feet from the door to a fourth-floor fire exit. The body of Samuel Russello, 87, was discovered lying in the bedroom of his third-floor apartment.
All three victims died of asphyxiation, autopsies showed.
Two other residents and three firemen were treated for minor injuries at the Atlantic City Medical Center
Contributor: Deborah Polk (49739099)
Authorities have charged a 38-year-old unemployed drifter with setting...
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Authorities have charged a 38-year-old unemployed drifter with setting a pre-dawn fire that killed three elderly residents of an apartment house on the edge of Atlantic City's casino strip.
Joseph Grandison had been evicted from his apartment on the second floor of the building Friday, investigators said.
The fire was set in several different places inside the same apartment but authorities would not say if the eviction was considered a motive in the case.
Grandison was taken into custody Tuesday night in a bar near the burned-out building and was later charged with three counts of murder and one count of arson. During an arraignment Wednesday, Municipal Court Judge Steven Kaplan set bail at $350,000 and ordered the suspect held in the Atlantic County Jail.
Battalion Chief John Brenner said 'street work in the area' led to the arrest.
'Grandison is an unemployed drifter who appears to have been in this area for some time,' the chief said. 'This particular street was apparently his turf.'
The intense blaze erupted about 12:30 a.m. Monday in a vacant apartment on the second floor of the brick-and-frame apartment house, about 1 blocks from the city's Boardwalk casino strip.
Authorities found the bodies of Stephen and Flora Andrake, both 67, about 4 feet from the door to a fourth-floor fire exit. The body of Samuel Russello, 87, was discovered lying in the bedroom of his third-floor apartment.
All three victims died of asphyxiation, autopsies showed.
Two other residents and three firemen were treated for minor injuries at the Atlantic City Medical Center
Contributor: Deborah Polk (49739099)
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