Police: Fatal fire was a murder-suicide
Journal staff
CLINTON HOLLOW — Authorities are ruling Thursday morning fatal fire in the Town of Clinton as a murder-suicide.
Andrew Papp, 66, killed his fiancee Ernestine Mills, 56, with a single discharge from a shotgun, set the fire and then shot himself, said Deputy T.J. Hanlon, spokeman for the Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office.
“There is evidence suggesting it was a financial concern,” Hanlon said of Papp’s motive, but he would not elaborate.
The house fire on East Halstead Road was reported to police at 8:10 a.m. Thursday.
Papp’s and Mills’ families have been notified, Hanlon said.
The crime is being investigated by the Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office, the Dutchess County Cause and Origin Team and the Dutchess County Medical Examiner’s Office.
About 40 firefighters from the East Clinton, West Clinton, Pleasant Valley, Stanford, and Millbrook fire departments responded. One firefighter was treated for minor injuries fighting the blaze.
Firefighters spent two hours battling flames until the scene was contained enough that fire investigators could begin looking around the debris.
In an interview Thursday, next-door neighbor Wayne Castilonia, 61, said he did not know the Papps well.
Castilonia and his wife, Marie, moved to their home on Clinton Hollow Road about five years ago when Castilonia retired from the Yonkers Fire Department. He said Thursday a passing motorist alerted Marie Castilonia to the fire as she was about to drive out of the driveway. She told her husband, and he called 911.
Wayne Castilonia said he walked over to the house and saw the smoke coming from the chimney and roof.
"There were no flames showing," he said, and he tried to see if anyone was inside by banging on the windows and doors, which he said were hot.
Firefighters arrived soon after. The fire crew set up one truck in the driveway and aimed its water cannon at the house, while tankers and pumpers from several departments shuttled between the fire scene and a town park to relay extra water from the park's pond.
The Red Cross was also at the scene, offering water to firefighters and other services to neighbors.
"It actually worked very well," East Clinton Deputy Fire Chief Tim McCormack said at about 10:30 a.m. when the fire was under control.
McCormack wouldn't speculate on the cause of the fire, but the damage was visibly more severe near the chimney on the east side of the house, where little remained other than charred beams.
HMMM- Go Figure
!!
Journal staff
CLINTON HOLLOW — Authorities are ruling Thursday morning fatal fire in the Town of Clinton as a murder-suicide.
Andrew Papp, 66, killed his fiancee Ernestine Mills, 56, with a single discharge from a shotgun, set the fire and then shot himself, said Deputy T.J. Hanlon, spokeman for the Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office.
“There is evidence suggesting it was a financial concern,” Hanlon said of Papp’s motive, but he would not elaborate.
The house fire on East Halstead Road was reported to police at 8:10 a.m. Thursday.
Papp’s and Mills’ families have been notified, Hanlon said.
The crime is being investigated by the Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office, the Dutchess County Cause and Origin Team and the Dutchess County Medical Examiner’s Office.
About 40 firefighters from the East Clinton, West Clinton, Pleasant Valley, Stanford, and Millbrook fire departments responded. One firefighter was treated for minor injuries fighting the blaze.
Firefighters spent two hours battling flames until the scene was contained enough that fire investigators could begin looking around the debris.
In an interview Thursday, next-door neighbor Wayne Castilonia, 61, said he did not know the Papps well.
Castilonia and his wife, Marie, moved to their home on Clinton Hollow Road about five years ago when Castilonia retired from the Yonkers Fire Department. He said Thursday a passing motorist alerted Marie Castilonia to the fire as she was about to drive out of the driveway. She told her husband, and he called 911.
Wayne Castilonia said he walked over to the house and saw the smoke coming from the chimney and roof.
"There were no flames showing," he said, and he tried to see if anyone was inside by banging on the windows and doors, which he said were hot.
Firefighters arrived soon after. The fire crew set up one truck in the driveway and aimed its water cannon at the house, while tankers and pumpers from several departments shuttled between the fire scene and a town park to relay extra water from the park's pond.
The Red Cross was also at the scene, offering water to firefighters and other services to neighbors.
"It actually worked very well," East Clinton Deputy Fire Chief Tim McCormack said at about 10:30 a.m. when the fire was under control.
McCormack wouldn't speculate on the cause of the fire, but the damage was visibly more severe near the chimney on the east side of the house, where little remained other than charred beams.
HMMM- Go Figure
!!
