Police Arrest Suspect in Fatal California Car Fire
A man who allegedly set fire to a car he was driving along a highway, killing two children and critically injuring his girlfriend, was arrested Friday.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- A man who allegedly set fire to a car he was driving along a highway, killing two children and critically injuring his girlfriend, was arrested Friday.
Mark Anthony Fregia, 35, was arrested near downtown San Francisco as he walked toward a sedan he is suspected of carjacking to make his getaway from the blaze Thursday, police said.
Daelin Fregia, the 2-year-old son of the suspect and his girlfriend Erin Weaver, and Weaver's 6-year-old daughter, Delvin, died in the fire.
Fregia was taken to a hospital for treatment of burns to his hands and face. He remained under police custody there with bail set at $2.5 million.
Weaver, 27, remained in critical condition with second- and third-degree burns that covered 85 percent of her body.
Police have said they believe Fregia set the fire, but offered no other details and were still piecing together Thursday afternoon's events.
They said witnesses reported seeing two people arguing in the front seat of a car that was weaving in and out of traffic on Interstate 80 near Pinole, about 20 miles northeast of San Francisco.
After the car pulled off the highway, Fregia and Weaver got out with their clothes on fire before the vehicle rolled down an embankment and was engulfed in flames.
Fregia then carjacked a Ford Taurus to make his getaway, Pinole police have said.
After fire crews extinguished the blaze, the bodies of two children were found inside.
Fregia has an extensive criminal history, police said.
