Hazelton, PA
Magisterial District Judge Joseph Zola on Monday postponed ruling on charges against two city residents accused of involuntary manslaughter for the 2016 death of a man who died in an apartment fire.
Prosecutors allege that a burning cardboard box thrown between Thomas McQueen, 66, and Alice Reimiller, 53, caused the March 9 fire that claimed the life of Gordon Wanser, 58.
“I will hold my decision on both cases because there are some things I want to research a little bit and I can’t do it at this time,” Zola said after a preliminary hearing for the couple.
He expected to alert attorneys to his decision sometime today.
McQueen and Reimiller were charged with second-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter, arson, reckless endangerment and related charges. Like McQueen and Reimiller, Wanser was a tenant in the 104 E. Mine St. apartment building where the fire began.
An autopsy determined Wanser died from carbon monoxide poisoning due to smoke inhalation.
McQueen and Reimiller, both inmates at the Luzerne County Correctional Facility, entered not guilty pleas. At the end of the 2½ hour hearing, attorneys for the two requested a dismissal of charges.
Lt. David Bunchalk, who recently retired from the Hazleton Police Department, and Sgt. Shawn Hilbert, a Pennsylvania State Police fire marshal, were called as witnesses.
Bunchalk explained that he interviewed both defendants when they were in the hospital recovering from fire-related injuries. Both offered similar accounts of what happened, he said. Following a day of arguing, Bunchalk said McQueen ignited a cardboard box and tossed it at Reimiller as she sat on an enclosed porch.
“She picked up the still-lit box and threw it back into the apartment then went back to sit on the porch,” Bunchalk said.
Several minutes later, the apartment was on fire, he said.
Reimiller returned to the apartment, opened the door, and was hit with flames. She ran out and McQueen was also able to exit.
Three other tenants were at the property when the fire started. Tenant David Zook required hospitalization for his injuries, while residents Thomas Natt and Gary Strohl were treated for smoke inhalation, Bunchalk said.
The tenants were interviewed and collaborated the McQueen/Reimiller accounts.
Through his investigation, Hilbert determined the fire originated in the cardboard box inside the McQueen/Reimiller unit, then spread to a stairwell and to the second floor where Wanser had a room.
“The extent of the heat melted the plastic on his TV,” Hilbert noted.
Wanser’s room was located directly above the McQueen/Reimiller apartment, he noted.
Hilbert said that state police investigators returned to the scene a month later to perform a series of burn tests. All pointed to the cardboard box as the origin of the fire.
Attorney William Watt, who is representing McQueen, asked Zola to dismiss charges.
He argued that the fire would have never started if Reimiller didn’t throw the box back at McQueen.
Reimiller’s attorney, Paul Galante, said that if his client wanted to cause harm, she wouldn’t have returned to the apartment. He also said that she dropped the box in the apartment’s entryway, which was not the site where the fire originated. He suggested that McQueen may have moved the burning box further inside the unit, where investigators believe the fire intensified.
Prosecutor Tony Ross, however, asked that the charges be bound for court since “intentional” actions caused Wanser’s death.
Reimiller and McQueen remain in prison on the non-bailable offenses.