Authorities in Indiana have arrested Braydon Blake, accused of setting a house fire that killed his 74-year-old grandmother, her caregiver and the caregiver's bedridden daughter. Blake evaded custody after being discharged from a hospital without notification. He now faces murder and arson charges in Monroe County Jail.
Monroe County Sheriff's Office deputies arrested Braydon Blake on Friday in Avon, Indiana, following his unannounced discharge from Eskenazi Hospital on April 1. Deputies had guarded him there for about a month after the January 18 fire, but the hospital failed to alert them upon release. Indiana State Police and U.S. Marshals assisted in the capture after deputies learned of his freedom on Thursday, according to the sheriff's office as reported by WXIN and the Bloomington Herald-Times. The fire erupted shortly after 2:30 a.m. on January 18 in the 3800 block of East Anderson Road near Bloomington, prompting multiple 911 calls about trapped residents. Firefighters found a car crashed into the garage and pulled two women from the burning home: 74-year-old Mary Blake, who had cancer, and 33-year-old Kristine Rowan, bedridden with cerebral palsy and daughter of caregiver Paula Anderson. An 18-year-old woman, Rowan's sister, escaped with severe burns, as did another person. Paula Anderson, 53, died weeks later from her injuries. Witnesses identified Blake, Mary Blake's grandson, as the arsonist; he was found in a wooded area with severe burns. WXIN reported a possible motive linked to a rape allegation against Blake. Lindsey Pesonen, Anderson's sister, described the tragedy in a GoFundMe: 'The fire, set by a member of the older woman's family, took the lives of his own grandmother and my 33-year-old niece Kristine, who had lived with cerebral palsy and was bedridden.' Blake remains in Monroe County Jail without bond.