Man Called for Questions in Hotel Fire Kills Self

A bartender at the Dupont Plaza Hotel killed himself by leaping from a building, police said Sunday, and a newspaper reported that he faced questioning about the New Year’s Eve fire that killed 96 people and injured more than 140 others.

Julio Verges Gaetan, 45, jumped from the ninth floor of a building in the Rio Piedras suburb Saturday, police said. Police provided no other details.

El Mundo quoted his wife, Juanita Martinez, as saying that agents from the Special Investigations Bureau, a division of the island’s Justice Department, visited Verges Gaetan on Friday and issued him a summons to appear for questioning on Tuesday.

She also reportedly said that her husband appeared depressed after the fire and would cry every time he watched television reports on the disaster.

“They brought him this paper (summons), that’s when he lost control,” she was quoted as saying.

The blaze erupted minutes after a Teamsters Union meeting at which members voted to strike at midnight. Two Teamsters members have been charged in the blaze and investigators say they may make more arrests.

Hector Escudero Aponte, 35, a hotel maintenance man, and Armando Jimenez Rivera, 29, a busboy, were charged in federal court with arson and in San Juan District Court with first-degree murder, arson, destruction of property and conspiracy.

They pleaded not guilty to the federal charges Friday but have not yet entered a plea in local courts. Each faces a maximum penalty of life in prison if convicted.