"On February 18, 2011, 911 received a call from Jody Coleman at 11:52 p.m. that 6345 Louden Ave was on fire.  She lived directly across from the home.  She advised that there were people inside and she observed someone jumping from the roof.   Howard County Police and Fire responded to the location.

PO Mooney was the first person to respond and observed that the house was fully engulfed.  As he arrived to the location from Southbound Washington Blvd he could see flames coming from the residence. Several neighbors advised that there were people inside. PO Mooney observed flames coming from the front of the house on both levels.

The fence had to be kicked in so he could gain access to the home. He observed approximately 10 Hispanic family members crouched in a corner in the yard.  He escorted them out of the yard and made contact with fire and rescue and advised that there were possibly 2 people trapped.  He and other officer were directed away from the home since the fire and smoke was high.  PO Mooney inhaled a large amount of black smoke and was treated by EMS.

Other officers identified the subjects within the residence as:
Lilliam Gonzalez
Mauricio Herrera
Reina Palma
Carlos Magana
Kervin Mata
Luis Tovilla
Keisie Tovilla
Felipe Menjivar-Torres
Luis Palma
Wendy Mata
Mario Anabisca

All the people were able to escape the house.

When firefighters arrived they would testify that the house was heavily involved (meaning over 50%) on fire.  The house was extinguished at 4:28 a.m. Fire Marshal and Investigator Carl Saunders was called to lead the investigation to determine the cause and origin of the fire.  He interviewed the witnesses, bystanders and occupants of the home.  The following witnesses advised the following:

Luis Tovilla:
He lived at 6345 Louden Avenue on the 2nd floor in a room with his wife Wendy and their daughter, Keisie.  On the night of the fire he had just arrived home approximately 15 minutes before the fire with his brother in law Kerwin Mata.  They (Wendy , Kerwin and Keisie) were all in the room when he saw flames outside the  window. He grabbed his daughter and ran out the house yelling for everyone to get out.

Wendy Mata:
She lived at 6345 Louden Avenue and on the night of the fire Luis arrived with Kerwin after 11 pm.  They were in their room and Luis was facing the window, Kerwin was holding Keisie, when Luis said he saw flames in the window. Luis grabbed their daughter and says the house is on fire.  As they were heading down the stairs, saw smoke and that the windows were broken and the front door was blocked by fire. They were able to escape by the back door into the backyard and waited for help.

Felipe Menijivar:
He was living at 6345 Louden Avenue in the basement. He was asleep and heard people upstairs running and making noise. Approximately 15 minutes later Luis Palma was knocking on his door and saying the house is burning up.  He went up to the 1st level and saw more smoke and large flames at the front of the house.  As he tried to exit the house he saw Mario sleeping in the living room and woke him up. There was so much smoke he felt dizzy and ran out the back door in the kitchen into the yard.

Mauricio Herrera:
He was living at 6345 Louden Avenue on the 2nd floor in a room with Lilliam Gonzalez.  He was asleep and Lilliam woke him up and said something about Santiago because of a commotion.  He heard the commotion. Their bedroom door was closed but saw a lot of smoke. He went to the side window and saw fire coming from where the cars were parked to the left of the house. He opened the door and saw fire coming in. They decided to open the window and escaped by jumping from the roof above the porch.

Lilliam Gonzalez:
She went to sleep at 9 p.m. and woke up after hearing Wendy calling her and glass breaking.  She opened the door and saw smoke and went back into the room. She and Mauricio went to exit through the window. She jumped off the roof and received scrapes/bruises.

During the initial investigation Fire Investigator Saunders opined that the fire originated on the exterior of the building on the right side under the covered porch.

The fire was extensive and extended to the side of the home.   High wind conditions contributed to the spread of the fire.

An accelerant K-9 trained in detecting ignitable liquids was brought for an examination initially on 2/19/11 and alerted to the presence of petroleum based ignitable liquids near the corner of the home on the covered porch.  Investigator Saunders collected deck floor and fire debris and deck floor comparison from the alert locations and submitted them for analysis to MSP.

On 2/20/11 police learned that a suspect by the name of Edvin Giovanni Reyes-Ceron had stated he placed the house on fire by pouring gas on the front porch and near the front door and poured the remaining gas on a car in the driveway; then lit the gas on fire.

He further advised that he was picked up by Santiago Gonzalez Miner at the liquor store located at the corner of Washington Blvd and Louden Avenue. Through investigation it was learned that Santiago Gonzalez Miner had been in an altercation several days earlier with his estranged wife Lilliam Gonzalez and Mauricio Herrera (both residents of the Louden home.) After the altercation, Lilliam Gonzalez moved to 6345 Louden Avenue to be with her boyfriend Mauricio Herrera; leaving her husband Gonzalez.

Pursuant to a search and seizure warrant signed by the Honorable Mary Reese police and fire investigators responded to 6345 Louden Avenue to retrieve samples from the home and the 1999 Ford Mustang on 2/22/11.

Several samples from the scene were collected: the front doorway and soil under the porch (directly below where the accelerant K-9 had alerted prior to the execution of the warrant.) All samples were submitted to the Forensics Science Division for the MSP and after examination: gasoline was detected on the deck floor and fire debris, the soil sample and the threshold of the front door.

A check of the value of loss from the fire was estimated at $300K for the structure, $1498 for the contents and $4K for the car (Mustang.)

Based on the totality of his fire investigation, Investigator Saunders (who the State would have called as expert), concluded that the fire was incendiary (caused by human hands)in nature.  The area of the origin was the front porch of the house and the fire was started by the pouring and igniting of a petroleum based liquid.

Information was received as to the suspect Santiago Gonzalez-Miner and an inquiry was made on 2/24/11 confirming through Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that the suspect Gonzalez had left the country on 2/22/11 to El Salvador.  Further investigation would reveal that the suspect purchased the ticket on 2/21/11 with a final destination of Guatemala, with a return date of 3/22/11.

On July 6, 2011 arrest warrants were issued for both suspects and on July 7, 2011 both defendants Santiago Adolfo Gonzalez-Miner and Edvin Giovanni Ceron- Reyes were arrested. After being advised of their Miranda Rights and Prompt Presentment rights; both defendant’s agreed to speak with Detective Rodriguez, a Spanish speaking officer. During their taped interview the following was advised:

Santiago Gonzalez-Miner
•    That his wife, Lilliam, left him January 30, 2011 and moved in with Mauricio Herrera after an incident at the pharmacy.

•    Herrera used to work with him.

o    “She didn’t want anything to do with me.”
o     “They were in the back of the parking lot.”
o    “They were talking.  I went and knocked on the window.”
o    “And then—she didn’t want to open the window.”
o    “So then I found—a stick there and broke his window.”
o    “I broke the window and he left.” [pg 24 Gonzalez ]

•    Lilliam left that day and didn’t come back.
•    He found out she moved to Louden Avenue with Mauricio.
•    She took the 2 youngest kids with her.
•    The week of the fire she told him not to call her anymore and he said he didn’t.  [pg 27 Gonzalez]
•    He admitted that he had been by the house the Friday night (the night of the fire) around 7 or 8 p.m.
o    “I went once to exchange the car.  She had the car, the Tundra.”
o    “I told her I was going to need the truck. That I was going to give her the small car.”

•    He sent his son in with the keys and told him to give her the message.
•    After that he and Reyes were together.

o    “We were at Beechfield drinking.  We started talking and I started crying.  He said to me, ‘Why are you crying?’ I don’t know why. ‘Let’s teach them a lesson.’ I told him no. I love her.  He said ’No.’ I think she is his aunt.”

o    “He said, ‘She is a whore,’ he said.  ‘Don’t cry for her anymore. Let’s teach them a lesson,’ he said. ‘You won’t have to get involved in anything, I will do everything.’ And what are we going to do? ‘Let’s look for some gas ‘  he told me. But dangerous I said.  Hmm,  just you?  “Yeah.” We went to Forrest.  I got the Suburban.  He went to get a can of gas behind the house.  I took him up to Highland.”

o    “From there he went on foot and I went down to wait for him at the liquor.”

•    When Reyes returned to the car he told Gonzalez it was done and he took him home.
•    When he got home his son told him the house was on fire where his mother lived and wanted to check on her.
•    He admitted that he knew that there were more people in the house besides Lilliam and Mauricio. [pg 62 Gonzalez]
•    After the fire he took his son to locate his mother at the hospital.
•    Mauricio was there but he didn’t speak with him and didn’t give him a ride.
•    He took Lilliam back to his house, where she advised would not sleep in the room with him and stayed on the couch.  
o    “She told me she was going to stay on the couch.”
o    “That she didn’t want anything, she told me.” [pg 42 Gonzalez ]
•    He left for work and when he returned Lilliam was gone.
•    That Monday he went to the travel agency.
o    “I went to pay for the plane ticket.  They said there was one at three in the morning.”

•    Then he left for Guatemala without notifying anyone.
Edvin Ceron Reyes
•    That he came to the country; Lilliam Gonzalez is his aunt
•    Santiago Gonzalez was her husband and helped him get a job
•    He is good friends with Gonzalez
•    On 2/18/11 he was drinking with Gonzalez
•    He was upset that Lilliam had left Gonzalez for Mauricio who was younger and that he had helped Mauricio when he first came to Maryland.
•    Gonzalez brought up burning the house on Louden
o    “He wanted to light the house on fire…….that’s fine, light it.  I know.” [Pg 41 Ceron]
•    That they went to back of the residence and retrieved gas.
o    With a can of a gas
o    Where did you get the can of gas?
o    There at the house
o    His house on Forrest?
o    Mm-hmm
•    That Gonzalez drove him to the location on the corner of Highland and Louden Avenue
•    That the Ceron alone poured gas on the front of the house
o    “On the door (ran alongside the house)”
o    “That he used a lighter to light the fire.” [pg 42 Ceron]
•    That he ran.
o    “Behind the liquor store.”
o    “He (Gonzalez) was there in the car.” [pg 43 Ceron]

•    That he knew that people were inside the house at the time of the fire
•    At the conclusion of the interview defendant asked the house residence for forgiveness.
o    “I write because of the harm I caused them.  That’s why I asked them to forgive me.”
o    “I regret it, see.  When I was there I was drunk that day too.”