BY STEVE MCCONNELL (STAFF WRITER)
Published: June 3, 2010
HONESDALE - Sitting a mere five feet or so from the woman accused of intentionally setting a house fire that killed his brother and her boyfriend on May 1, Gerald Wood testified Wednesday he heard the couple arguing in their upstairs bedroom moments before smoke consumed their home.
"It happened so fast," Mr. Wood testified at Susan Marie Bates' preliminary hearing Wednesday. "I was just yelling for him to come to the window."
State police charged Ms. Bates, 45, on the eve of the Saturday afternoon fire with criminal homicide and multiple arson counts in relation to the death of Timothy Wood, 40, who shared the 21 Canal St., Texas Twp., residence with the accused.
After nearly two hours of testimony, Magisterial District Judge Ted Mikulak bound over all of the charges to Wayne County Court where Ms. Bates could face a jury trial.
She is accused of allegedly setting three fires on the second floor of the residence: one on a mattress, another in a garbage can, and a third on a Dallas Cowboys blanket she wrapped around herself, according to arrest papers and court testimony.
Timothy Wood put out the first two fires. But the third fire, where Timothy Wood apparently tossed the blanket off Ms. Bates onto a stairwell, according to her account, set the residence on fire - resulting in Mr. Wood's death due to asphyxiation.
Ms. Bates escaped through a window; Mr. Wood did not and was found lying on his side with a cell phone clenched in his right hand, testified state police fire marshal Russell Andress, who determined the fires were intentionally set.
According to arrest papers, Ms. Bates allegedly told state police investigators later that evening: "I did not mean to hurt Tim. รข€¦ It wasn't supposed to happen this way."
Ms. Bates also told investigators that she was upset with Mr. Wood because Mr. Wood, while intoxicated, was trying to contact his ex-wife again.
Ms. Bates' court-appointed attorney, Janine Edwards, questioned whether state police investigators should have interviewed Ms. Bates just hours after the fire at Community Medical Center in Scranton without consulting a physician about her physical and mental state.
Gerald Wood's girlfriend, Karen Hazen, who also was at the couple's residence that day, also testified that shortly after Ms. Bates set the mattress fire the accused remained upstairs "smoking a cigarette with a really weird grin on her face."
"Timmy, why don't we call the cops?" Ms. Hazen recalled telling Mr. Wood after the first two fires were allegedly set by Ms. Bates.
"No, I have it under control," Mr. Wood told Ms. Hazen, according to her testimony.
Contact the writer: smcconnell@timesshamrock.com
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