Edi Diazabakana tried to murder his now-former girlfriend after she broke up with him, cops said. (Screenshot: WCVB)
A Massachusetts man set fire to an apartment when his girlfriend told him she was going to dump him, say cops in the city of Peabody. Edi Diazabakana, 39, was taken into custody after he allegedly attacked both his now-ex and her mother.
The ex-girlfriend had told him she was ending the relationship, according to the arrest report obtained by WCVB. She went to bed. Diazabakana, however, allegedly returned, started the fire, and hit her in the face multiple times.
She attempted to flee. Diazabakana allegedly stopped her and said “that they were going to die there together.” The woman eventually managed to escape.
“My mother tried to help but he fought her off,” Sasha, the ex-girlfriend’s sister, said, according to CBS News. “My mother ran out to get help and it was only by the grace of God that my sister and my mother are both alive right now.”
Police said an officer encountered the mother outside the building, according to the WCVB report. She had sustained a burn to her foot.
“She informed me her daughter’s boyfriend started the fire and had tried to kill them both,” the officer reportedly wrote.
The officer entered the building to find a naked woman with burns to her feet. This woman said her boyfriend was upstairs.
“She stated she was sleeping and he came into the bedroom, intentionally lit a fire on the bed and told her that he was going to kill her and himself,” police reportedly wrote.
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“She was all without clothes and her leg was burned,” a neighbor, Evillyn Chagas, told the outlet. “I was like, ‘What happened?’ Then, she was like, ‘Oh, I told my [boyfriend] that we were not going to be together anymore, so he set the bed on fire.’”
Police claimed to discover a five-gallon gas can and a blow torch. The building sprinkler system also went off, causing water damage. Neighbors at the apartment building, the Tanner City Residences, had to leave, facing possible displacement for weeks.
Diazabakana faces a count each of arson, attempted murder, domestic assault and battery on a household member, and kidnapping.
His family characterized the allegations as out of character. They described him as a quiet, hardworking man with two kids from a previous marriage. They asserted he was the person trying to end the relationship.
“He never committed a crime before. My brother would never do that,” the defendant’s sister, Nakasa Diazabakana, the outlet. “What they’re accusing him of is insane. I know he didn’t do it.”
“I know this is a setup,” Sola Diazabakana, another sister, said. “But the truth will always prevail.”
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