March 17, 2004 — Fire officials and police encountering an abandoned house fully engulfed in flames early Wednesday morning first thought it was a case of arson. Moments later officials said they discovered a badly injured man with extensive burns and slash wounds to the throat. The victim later died.
Police are now looking into the circumstances surrounding the apparent homicide of a squatter believed to have occupied the structure on Haabets Gade.
According to Territorial Police Chief Novelle Francis the blaze was reported around 2:30 a.m. "Officers were called and dispatched to a house fire in the area of Haabets Gade. Upon arrival, the house was completely engulfed, and they called the fire department, who responded. After extinguishing the fire and getting to the victim, the victim was taken to the Roy Lester Schneider Hospital, where he sustained burns to 90 percent of his body and was bleeding profusely," the police chief said.
The victim, later identified as 42-year-old Alan Testamark, was pronounced dead at Schneider Hospital around 5:30 a.m. Francis said investigators are now trying to find out if the victim was assaulted and who started the blaze. "This particular investigation is being carried as a homicide at this time and is currently under investigation by the Major Crime Unit," he said.
It's the fifth time since mid-January that firefighters have responded to the scene of an abandoned house fire on St. Thomas. In the most recent one, reported last week in Hospital Ground, officials said they believed there were squatters in the area.
The Wednesday morning fire had an additional and ironic twist, since according to one childhood friend of the victim, former Fire Service Director, now Sen. Carlton Dowe, the house on Haabets Gade belonged to close relatives of the current Fire Service Director, Merwyn Potter. "I know the victim, I know the entire family. We all grew up together as little boys in the area of what we used to call Graham's shop," Dowe said Wednesday.
