Set fire after he got boot from family who took him in
Psycho
The big-hearted Queens family that opened its doors to an unstable firebug asked the ar- sonist to leave shortly before he torched their home, killing himself and two others — including a 6-year-old girl, relatives said Thursday.
Family members said 23year-old David Abreu-Nunez, who authorities said lit the fatal blaze Wednesday afternoon inside the 93rd St. house in East Elmhurst, was a family friend from the Dominican Republic who needed a place to stay.
They were moved by his story about being beaten and robbed in the Bronx, so they gave him shelter for a few days while they looked for a new apartment for him.
But when the family found out he had legal issues — including a filing a false report arrest for faking his assault — they wanted him out.
“He looked normal to us. When we found out [about the legal problems] we told him to leave,” said Raul Moreno, the 6-year-old victim’s uncle and owner of the two-story house.
“Because of helping someone, this is the price we pay.”
FDNY officials confirmed Thursday the fire was intentionally set. “An ignitable liquid was used as an accelerant,” the department said on Twitter.
A source said Abreu-Nunez started the fire after he poured gasoline on the stove. The blaze was extinguished within an hour, but the flames tore through the home, killing the firebug as well as Claudio Rodriguez, 76, and his granddaughter Emma Dominguez.
Emma’s mother, Elizabeth Rodriguez, 35, and her 10month-old son, Liam Dominguez, remained in critical condition at the Cornell Burn Center in Manhattan. Rodriguez has burns to 90% of her body, relatives said. Her surviving child has burns to about 80% of his body.
Abreu-Nunez’s bogus story about being assaulted persuaded landlord Rafelina Moreno to take him in, said Moreno’s son Devin.
Abreu-Nunez told the family he was scared to stay in the Bronx and feared his sexual orientation made him a target.
“He said he got jumped, supposedly,” he said.
Early Sunday morning, Abreu-Nunez told police he heard a knock at the door of his Morris Ave. apartment in the Bronx, and was confronted by two women, according to a criminal complaint.
Then, four masked men barged in, screaming, “Where is the money?” and mentioning his ex, Alberto, by name.
They shoved him into a wall, he claimed. When he woke up, Abreu-Nunez claimed, a broomstick was shoved into his rectum, he was ziptied at the knees, and his hands were tied behind his back.
Within hours, he told detectives he made up the whole story. “I was not raped by anyone. I put the broomstick inside myself,” he said, according to the complaint. He had enlisted a friend to get gloves, paint the security cameras black and call 911.
“I wanted to get my exboyfriend in trouble because he mistreated me in the Dominican Republic,” he said.
Rodriguez and her father took in Abreu-Nunez earlier in the week, after he told his wild tale to the cops, relatives said.
“I know all people have problems and if I can help you, great. But if I can’t help you or someone can’t help me, I’m not going to hurt them for it,” Anthony Moreno, Emma’s cousin, said. “Why would someone do this? ... Why take a 6-year-old girl’s life?”
“[Rodriguez] opened the doors to help someone, and that piece of s—t, when they asked him to leave, set the house on fire,” another cousin, who would only identify himself as Gabriel, said as family members returned to the torched home Thursday to pick up some belongings. “She tries to help someone and that’s what she gets repaid with.
“The family is going through a tough time right now,” he said.
The children’s father was on his way to New York from the Dominican Republic Thursday night, relatives said.
“They’re a beautiful family, a helpful family,” Gabriel said. “They open their doors [and] reach out. Ask anybody. They always help out.”