Death in Fire Ruled Suicide

From the Atlantic City Press Published: Tuesday, March 25, 2008

By JULIET FLETCHER Staff Writer, 856-237-9020

BUENA VISTA TOWNSHIP- State Police have confirmed that a man who died in a fire on Saturday afternoon committed suicide by arson.
Joaquin Torres, 60, was found in the bedroom of the house in the 700 block of Jackson Road, which firefighters found engulfed in flames shortly after 2 p.m.

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State Police Sgt. Steve Jones said a report from the force's arson unit Monday determined that a chemical had been used to start the fire in the kitchen. "Tests are still going on to confirm what that was, related to several containers around the place," he said.

Torres' death was formally ruled a suicide, according to an autopsy also conducted Monday. The cause of his death was smoke inhalation.

Neither his wife nor his teenage son was at the property at the time of the fire, Jones said. "From what I've heard so far, it sounds like she had moved out the day before," he explained.

Torres' mother-in-law reportedly raised the alarm after receiving a phone call from him that led her to believe he was suicidal, police said.
Jones said the type of accelerant used would be confirmed in the next few days. But other factors, including the fact that the doors appeared to have been barricaded, had already suggested that the fire was started deliberately and that Torres had not tried to leave, he said.