Connecticut man confessed to arson, witnesses to say

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A Connecticut man confessed three times to setting a 2011 gas-fueled fire that killed three members of the same family and forced others to jump out windows, a prosecutor said Monday.

Witnesses will testify that Hector Natal admitted setting the fire in New Haven that killed 42-year-old Wanda Roberson; her 8-year-old son, Quayshawn; and 21-year-old niece, Jaquetta Roberson, prosecutor Deirdre Daly told a federal jury in her opening statement Monday.

Natal is charged with arson resulting in death, witness tampering and conspiracy to distribute drugs. His father, Hector Morales, is charged with witness tampering and destruction of evidence in connection with the case. The men are being tried together.

Their attorneys say the case is based on unreliable witnesses with ulterior motives.

Authorities say Natal set the fire in part as retaliation for failure to pay a drug debt involving someone who lived in another unit in the multifamily house. The fire was set in the middle of the night when 17 residents were sleeping, including young children, pregnant women and grandmothers, Daly said.

Natal's attorney, Michael Sheehan, acknowledged Natal was involved in drug dealing, but he said he planned to ask the jury at the end of the trial to find his client not guilty in connection with the fire.