Man charged after threatening to burn down home with wife inside
A Gibsonia woman told police her husband threatened to burn down their home with the two of them still inside Saturday.
Adams Township Police filed charges Sunday against Eli M. Zatezalo, including felony risking catastrophe as well as misdemeanors of simple assault, false imprisonment and DUI.
District Judge Wayne Seibel arraigned Zatezalo on those charges Sunday morning. Zatezalo was then placed in Butler County Prison in lieu $30,000 bond.
While Adams Township led the investigation, multiple other departments were dispatched around 7:21 p.m. Saturday to the couple's home on the 1000 block of Amy Place in Middlesex Township, and Northern Regional police departments responded along with state police to assist.
“Butler County 911 reported that the caller (later identified as the wife) was in her vehicle with her husband on the vehicle yelling,” said the investigating officer in charging documents.
Police said when they arrived at the home, they cleared the scene, and neither the husband nor the wife were home. Police smelled a “strong odor” of gasoline throughout the home and a 5-gallon gas can on a table.
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