Suspicious Pennsylvania Fire Kills Mother, 3 Kids

A duplex caught fire Friday, killing a single mother and her three children, and authorities said they were searching for a man believed to have been involved with the woman.

State police, fire marshals and an arson dog examined the debris Friday afternoon.

Armstrong County Dist. Atty. Scott J. Andreassi said the early morning fire in Apollo, about 35 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, was suspicious because of what neighbors saw, because of how quickly it spread and because it apparently started on the front porch.

He would not elaborate other than to say that a “relationship or attempted relationship” may have prompted the man to set the fire.

Crystal M. Johnson, 41, was killed along with her children, Rebecca J. White, 11, Jacob J. Patrono, 5, and Cynthia Johnson, 2. The children’s fathers were not suspected in the blaze.

Neighbor Richard McDowell, 50, tried to rescue the family by throwing a lawn chair through the unit’s kitchen window.

“I was yelling and screaming trying to raise any kind of life so I’d know where to put my ladder next, but I couldn’t get anything,” he said.