Firebombing on Cape Cod was preceeded by a dispute
Four young children endangered by blaze
BARNSTABLE - There was soot on his face, tears in his eyes, and terror in his voice when Dennis Edwards burst through the door of Dora Rix's house early Thursday morning.
"Can you help me?," he shouted at Rix, the woman recalled yesterday. "My house is on fire!"
Rix said she dialed 911 and ordered Edwards back to his burning duplex on Hiramar Road in Hyannis to make sure that everyone - four children under 3 were sleeping inside when the fire broke out - had safely escaped.
They had.
But the relief from surviving the fire was soon replaced by shock and anger, as Edwards and police discovered that a Molotov cocktail had been tossed into a bedroom of Edwards's duplex, landing near the bed where his 4-year-old son was sleeping. Two girls - 7 months old and 2 years old, daughters of Edwards's girlfriend, Michaela Salvadori - were asleep in the same room.
A friend, Donyel Carey, was on the living room couch with her 1-year-old daughter sleeping on her chest, authorities said.
With Edwards's help, Barnstable and State police identified four men, who had been guests at Edwards's house earlier, and one woman as suspects. The five allegedly made three Molotov cocktails out of empty 40-ounce beer bottles that they filled with gasoline.
Two were tossed at Edwards's house; one burst into flames in the children's room, and a second was found on the ground outside. The third had not been located, authorities said.
Yesterday, Cape and Islands District Attorney Michael O'Keefe promised to punish those involved and said he could not explain the violent act that could have ended the lives of seven people.
"Trying to ascribe any rational motives to an incident like this is pretty difficult to do," O'Keefe told reporters. The suspects "could not have helped but known that children were present in that dwelling."
The five suspects were arraigned yesterday in Barnstable District Court, where they all pleaded not guilty to arson of a dwelling, seven counts of attempted murder, and possession of an infernal device.
They were identified as Joshua Debonise, 19, of Hyannis; Andrew Nickerson, 19, of Mashpee; Victor Mason, 20, of East Boston; Jose Reyes, 22, of Fitchburg; and Tiffany Mason, 20, who is Victor Mason's adoptive sibling and Debonise's girlfriend.
According to a Barnstable police report and Tara Lee Miltimore, assistant Cape and Islands district attorney, the four men were drinking at Edwards's house until about 11 p.m., when Reyes began insulting a neighbor who had stopped by to borrow a screwdriver.
When Salvadori said he was insulting a guest, Reyes lashed out at her and knocked her into an aquarium. Edwards intervened, and he and Reyes started fighting. They moved their struggle outside, where Reyes allegedly pulled a knife on Edwards, police and the prosecutor said.
Edwards backed off and called police, while the four climbed into a 1999 Pontiac Grand Prix and sped off, according to Rix and court records.
Over the next 2 1/2 hours, the four men, who were joined by Tiffany Mason, purchased a gallon of gas at a nearby convenience store and built the three firebombs, attacking Edwards's house about 2:30 a.m.
Late Thursday State Police arrested the suspects after spotting the Grand Prix belonging to Nickerson in the Medford area. "All five suspects had packed their clothes and personal belongings ahead of time, then fled the Cape," according to the police report.
Lawyers for the five contended yesterday that police had done a poor job linking their clients to the crime or insisted they were not involved.
Edwards could not be reached for comment yesterday, but Rix said he lost everything in the fire, including a toy car that was the bed for his 4-year-old son.
But Rix said she and Edwards were both grateful no one was injured.
"I keep telling him he had angels watching over him," she said. "It was so scary."
John Ellement can be reached at ellement@globe.com.
