South Australian police believe a man found dead in a house fire in Woodville Gardens, Adelaide, was murdered, and the blaze was set to destroy evidence.
Acting Operations Inspector for Major Crime, Matthew Fitzpatrick, confirmed that emergency services responded to a fire on Thursday, November 7 at 4am after a passer-by reported the property engulfed in flames.
He said, “As a result of that investigation, we’re satisfied that [the victim] was murdered and that the house was set on fire to deliberately destroy the evidence related to that murder.”
The victim is believed to be 72-year-old Bill Frangos, a long-time resident who lived alone at the house. Formal identification is still pending due to the complexities of the fire investigation.
“Despite the fire, we have recovered evidence within the house,” Inspector Fitzpatrick added.
Police suspect petrol was used to start the fire, after a jerry can was found ignited on the front lawn. “We know that a jerry can had been set alight on the front grass of that property,” said Fitzpatrick.
Sergeant Fitzpatrick also mentioned that cannabis-related items had been removed from properties associated with Frangos. “There is some information that cannabis was involved in respect to this incident,” he said.
While police are keeping an open mind about the motive, they suggest that the person or persons responsible may have been known to Frangos. “We have identified a number of persons of interest, those persons of interest have been spoken to yesterday, they assisted police with our inquiries and at this time we have discounted their involvement,” Inspector Fitzpatrick stated.
Police are now seeking public assistance and urge anyone who had contact with Frangos in the last six weeks to come forward. “We’re seeking anyone that had contact with Bill in the last six weeks to contact investigators through Crime Stoppers,” he added.
Source: ABC News.
