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Background: Body worn camera footage of the fire in Bensalem, Pa. (Bensalem Police Department). Inset: Harrison Jones (Bensalem Police Department).
A Michigan man allegedly drove hundreds of miles to the home of a perceived romantic rival in Pennsylvania with the intent to set the family’s home on fire, police say.
Bensalem Police announced the arrest of Harrison Jones, 21, who they said traveled about 740 miles from his home in Michigan “with murderous intentions.” During a press conference with the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office on Feb. 17, the Bensalem Police Department said that Jones drove his black Volkswagen from his home in Rockford, Michigan, to the Bensalem home of a man that his former girlfriend was planning to meet.
Jones’ ex-girlfriend had apparently been engaging in an online relationship with the Bensalem man and was planning to meet him in person for the first time. But Jones made a solo road tip to the man’s house, allegedly set it aflame, and then drove 11 hours back to Michigan.
In the early morning hours of Feb. 10, one of the home’s residents heard one of the family dogs barking. When she went downstairs to investigate, she reportedly saw a hooded figure and assumed it was her 22-year-old son who lived in the home. After she went back to her bedroom, she continued to hear a disturbance downstairs. When she went back down a second time, she reportedly saw her home engulfed in flames.
All six members of the family, including the woman’s elderly parents, were able to evacuate the home without major injuries and were treated at a nearby hospital for burns and smoke inhalation. One person was treated for severe smoke inhalation and remained hospitalized for two days.
Both family dogs perished in the fire.
Through the family’s statement, police learned that one of them was planning to meet a woman from Michigan whom he had been communicating with online since 2023. It was going to be the first time they met, and the family were reportedly told that she was being driven from Michigan to a nearby hotel in Pennsylvania by a “good friend” — Harrison Jones.
Police said that Jones was tracked using surveillance cameras from homes, one of which they said showed someone getting out of a black Volkswagen on the same street as the targeted home. The person can be seen getting something from the trunk and approaching the home at about 5 a.m. That person then returned to the car and turned off the engine, took something else out of the car, then ran toward the home.
About 10 minutes later, the person returns to the car and drives away. According to an affidavit obtained by the Bucks County Courier Times, smoke can be seen on video about 30 seconds after the car was gone.
Jones’ car was also tracked with traffic cameras and automatic license plate readers, which provided police information about who owned the car. The car allegedly driven by Jones was registered to one of his family members with whom he currently lived. Jones was also caught on camera at a Wawa store in Pennsylvania.
The Kent County Sheriff’s Department in Michigan then became involved in the investigation and got a warrant to search Jones’ home on Feb. 13. According to an affidavit, police allegedly found a medicated cream used to treat burns, gauze, and a lock-picking kit. They also found the same black Volkswagen in the home’s driveway.
When police questioned Jones’ father, he reportedly told them that he had installed a phone tracking app on his son’s iPhone that showed his son was allegedly in Pennsylvania two hours after the fire started.
Police also interviewed Jones. They observed a fresh wound to his forearm, which were believed by police to be burns.
Jones allegedly denied that he had ever been to Pennsylvania.
Kent County Sheriff’s deputies placed Jones under arrest. He is currently awaiting extradition. Jones faces 13 felony counts including six counts of attempted criminal homicide, four counts of arson, risking catastrophe, and other offenses that were not made publicly available.