Report: DCF notified of alleged assault prior to deadly house fire

The state Department of Children and Families was notified about a domestic violence assault that allegedly involved two parents and occurred in front of their infant weeks before the man arrested died during a house fire in Wallingford where the mother and child were found to have died before the blaze started.

The arrest report was authored by the Wallingford Police Department following the March 25 arrest of 24-yearold Justin Varnado, who was found suffering burns outside a house fire at 25 Geneva Ave. on April 17. He was flown to an area hospital and was later pronounced dead.

According to police, 19-yearold Karizmah Johnson and the couple’s 9-month-old child, Kylenn Varnado, were found to have died prior to the fire. Police have said the investigation into the fire is “criminal in nature.”

The cause of death for all three who were killed remain pending further studies, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner said Thursday.

According to police, a protective order had barred Justin Varnado from being at the home after he was arrested on charges of second-degree breach of peace and risk of injury to a minor. The police report from that arrest indicates that a woman at the Geneva Avenue home alleged that Justin Varnado had struck her head in front of the couple’s child, who was 8 months old at the time.

The woman told authorities that the infant had not been struck and that she did not want Justin Varnado arrested, the report said. She said she and Justin Varnado had been living in Wallingford together for about five months and that the two had been seeing each other for about a year, the report said.

The woman also told police Justin Varnado had been acting paranoid after allegedly smoking marijuana a few days prior, according to the report.

Police wrote in the report that they notified the DCF about the assault that allegedly took place in front of the child.

It remains unclear whether the agency had an open case involving the family prior to the fire.

“The Department of Children and Families is collaborating with the Wallingford Police Department and the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner to investigate the circumstances surrounding the untimely and tragic death of the 9-month-old baby in Wallingford,” DCF Commissioner Jodi Hill-Lilly said in a statement. “This remains an active investigation and no further information can be released at this time.”

The cause of the fire remains under investigation by the State Fire Marshal.

Police said they are treating the incident as a “suspicious death investigation.”