Victim recounts Jeannette row house arson that killed grandmother; suspect held on homicide counts

Jillian Anastasiu smelled something burning on the afternoon of April 9, but she thought her grandmother was cooking in the kitchen of the Jeannette apartment they shared.

Anastasiu, 41, went upstairs to the bathroom, and no more than five minutes later she realized the South Seventh Street building was on fire.

“I looked down the stairs and saw flames where the kitchen was,” she testified Thursday during a preliminary hearing for Brian Eric Rendon, 33, of Jeannette, who is accused of setting the fire that killed Shirley Kocherhans, 87.

Anastasiu recalled the second floor filled quickly with smoke, and she searched for a way out. She finally dropped out of a front window, shattering a vertebrae in her back. She had burns on her hands and face and smoke inhalation.

Kocherhans’ body was found in the living room about six feet from the front door, testified Trooper Chet Bell.

Homicide and arson charges against Rendon were bound over to the Westmoreland County Court for trial. He did not say anything to reporters when leaving the 90-minute hearing.

Firefighters responded at
2 p.m. April 9 and found heavy smoke and fire in the building which housed six units. About a dozen people were left homeless. Anastasiu testified that she remains in pain from back surgery.

Authorities investigating the fire believe it was started by Rendon on the back porch of a unit neighboring Kocherhans’. State police fire marshals removed debris by hand after the blaze while investigating the origin and cause. Bell said debris that an arson dog indicated on was sent for testing.

“I was there for several weeks on and off,” he testified.

Investigators identified Rendon as a suspect through surveillance video taken from the alley near the row houses. Two minutes and 12 seconds elapsed from the time when Rendon is last seen on the video to when smoke first appears, Bell testified. Thirty-six seconds later, the resident of the unit where the fire is believed to have been started called 911.

During an interview with police at the scene in May, Rendon told investigators a couple stories about how the fire started, including that he used an aerosol can of body spray and a lighter to set a wooden railing on the back porch ablaze, testified Matthew Regentin, special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Rendon was arrested July 31.

The debris has since been removed from the site and replaced with grass.

Rendon is accused of setting another fire two days earlier outside of his city apartment a couple blocks away. Police allege he lit a couch on fire. He was offered a plea bargain in that case.

He is being held without bond on the homicide and arson charges.

The building’s owner was ordered in July to pay fines on citations for violations of city ordinance. City officials said he didn’t have permits for the row houses to be occupied and the units hadn’t been inspected since 2013.

City ordinances require biennial inspections and occupancy permits at rental properties.

Renatta Signorini is a
Tribune-Review staff writer.
You can contact Renatta at 724-837-5374, rsignorini@tribweb.com or via Twitter @byrenatta.