(Image: Denton County Jail)
A Texas man has been charged with multiple counts of arson after allegedly setting a series of fires, including one that resulted in the deaths of an elderly couple and another that targeted a daycare center.
John Howard Ore, 36, is facing four arson charges stemming from three separate fires in Denton that occurred between December 2024 and January 2025, according to the Denton Police Department.
The first fire took place in December at a restaurant located in the 6400 block of I-35. While no injuries were reported, the building sustained significant damage.
Just one day later, police say Ore set fire to a home on Houston Place. Inside were 103-year-old Dante Bassi and 83-year-old Marilyn Bradley-Bassi. Though both were rescued from the blaze, they later died from their injuries at a local hospital. Their deaths have since been ruled as homicides by investigators.
The third alleged incident occurred in January, when a daycare center in the 1700 block of W. Oak Street was targeted. Fortunately, no one was injured in that fire.
Surveillance footage from the daycare incident reportedly shows a man breaking a window with a stone, dousing the interior with a flammable liquid, and then starting a fire.
Investigators noted that each of the three fires appeared to have been ignited in a similar fashion, which helped them link the incidents and eventually identify Ore as a suspect. He was arrested on January 23.
Following the confirmation that the fire-related deaths of the elderly couple were homicides, authorities obtained two additional warrants against Ore for arson causing death.
He is currently being held at Denton County Jail on a bond set at $2.1 million.
The motives behind the alleged arsons remain unclear, and authorities have not disclosed whether Ore had any known connections to the victims or the locations targeted.
The case is still under investigation as officials continue to piece together details surrounding the string of fires that left a community shaken and two lives tragically lost.
