Witnesses: Delafield man left scene of fire naked
The Waukesha Co. District Attorney's Office charged a Delafield man with 10 counts of recklessly endangering safety following an apartment fire. Police said the fire started in his unit
By Kendall Keys
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NASHOTAH, Wisconsin (WISN) — The Waukesha Co. District Attorney’s Office charged a Delafield man with 10 counts of recklessly endangering safety following an apartment fire. Police said the fire started in his unit, and he did not alert anyone, putting his neighbors in danger.
The fire happened just before 11 p.m. Sept. 12 at Parquelynn Village Apartments near Highway 16 and Lakeland Drive. Firefighters rescued a woman and her dog who were trapped in one of the units.
Investigators determined the fire started in Stephen Anderson’s unit. A neighbor called 911 and told dispatchers they saw Anderson leaving the scene naked.
“If there’s any available units on scene right now, if you can have them fan out, start looking. He was last seen naked,” a dispatcher said.
According to a criminal complaint, Anderson moved into the complex five days before the fire. In that time, multiple residents told investigators he threatened to stab them and their dogs.
According to court documents, one resident said Anderson had left “demonic type messages” in the building, including various symbols drawn around a dead bird on a stairway landing.
One witness told police the fire was “no accident,” adding, “he wanted to harm us.”
Another neighbor said he spotted Anderson “carrying tree branches, plywood and 2×4 lumber into his apartment.”
As firefighters fought flames, police searched for Anderson.
“Suspect’s going to be wearing nothing but cardboard wrapped around him,” a dispatcher said.
Police ended up arresting Anderson that night about a half mile away from the scene of the fire after a nearby resident called 911 to report a naked person.
According to the complaint, shortly after the fire started, Anderson was standing near the fire and said to another resident, “Yeah, there’s a fire started in there, and the people upstairs got out.”
When Anderson said that, most of the residents were still asleep inside their units.
According to court documents, the recklessly endangering safety charges stem from Anderson knowing there was a fire and failing to make any efforts to notify any tenants, activate a fire alarm, call 911, or verbally announce the fire, “showing a lack of concern for human life.”
Anderson is currently held in the Waukesha Co. Jail on a $500,000 bond.
Delafield police said the State Fire Marshal is assisting with an investigation, which is expected to last several months as evidence is processed and analyzed.
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