Two bodies found in suspicious house fire in Pierce County

Authorities have detained a man in connection with a suspicious fire this morning at a University Place home that killed at least two people, saying the fatal blaze may have been deliberately set in retaliation to a protection order filed against the man, a Pierce County sheriff's spokesman said.

While investigators try to determine the identities of the two bodies found in the home, authorities are now questioning a 23-year-old nephew who lived there with his aunt and a man who leased a room at the house, both of whom remain unaccounted for, sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer said.

"We're treating this as a homicide and arson at this point," Troyer said.

Although medical examiners have yet to confirm the fire victims' identities, Troyer said, the bodies found at the house are believed to be the aunt and the tenant.

Some neighbors and relatives of the dead woman said her tenant is a former NFL quarterback who once played for the New York Jets.

The suspicious blaze ignited shortly after 2 a.m. at the house in the 5500 block of 64th Avenue West, Troyer said.

About 10 a.m., authorities detained the woman's nephew when he "came roaming into the crime scene," Troyer said.

"At this point, he's a person of interest, obviously," Troyer said. "But he's only being questioned."

According to court records, the nephew already is facing a separate domestic violence charge for allegedly threatening to kill his mother in 2008. He also had been arrested last week after he allegedly fought with Pierce County sheriff's deputies during a dispute over his dog.

The fire raises suspicion, Troyer said, because the woman who lived at the home had applied for a restraining order against her nephew on Wednesday. According to the petition filed in Pierce County Superior Court, the woman described herself as a "prisoner in her own home" and stated her nephew has "threatened to harm me many times" and had struck her.

The aunt alleged her nephew "commands me and orders me around as if I am his junior."

The woman asked the court to prohibit her nephew from coming within 20 feet of her. She also requested that the court direct her nephew to take medication for his mental health, court records say.

The aunt was granted a temporary restraining order against her nephew.

Deputies had arrested the nephew on June 29, after a neighbor called animal control to report the man was allowing his pit bull to run loose in the neighborhood, Troyer said.

When an animal-control officer responded to the call, the nephew was "uncooperative," Troyer said. Deputies later came to the scene and the man became combative, Troyer added.

"He got in a fight with a deputy, and we had to use a Taser and beanbag gun to get him subdued," Troyer said. "We arrested him at the scene."

In her court petition filed Wednesday, the aunt asked the court to keep custody of the dog, named Indo, and pleaded with the court to review her nephew's recent arrest as well as other arrests.

"Please be kind and restrain [the nephew] from my home, otherwise it is like leaving (sic) in hell," she wrote.

Lewis Kamb: 206-464-2341 or lkamb@seattletimes.com

Seattle Times news researcher Miyoko Wolf contributed to this report