With one child, Devlin - a beautiful little
girl, from a previous relationship, Erin started to date Mark and a short
time later became pregnant with her second child, fathered by him. Trying
to be a family become very hard for Erin because of the abuse she
was suffering. During the summer of 2002,
Erin had been through enough and made
the decision to end the relationship with
Mark. Custody of Daelin would be shared by the two parents.
A short time after she left him, Mark was
looking through the window of her home and saw her with another man. After
breaking into the house, he choked Erin and though
she was naked, he dragged her out of the
house, only letting her go after neighbors
called the police. Mark was arrested and
was out on bail by December 18, 2003.
Mark made a call to Erin asking her to
go Christmas shopping with him at Toys R Us.
Erin agreed to go and arranged to meet
him a block from the home of her boyfriend, who she was staying with
at the time. After noticing they were going the wrong way,
she asked him where he was taking her
and demanded that he stop the car.
Mark asked Devlin to pass him his soda
and she did. Immediately when the cap was removed from the soda, Erin smelled
gas. Mark started pouring the gas over her and when she looked over at
him, he was holding two lighters, it was then that he set her
on fire. Grabbing the steering wheel,
Erin managed to get the car to the side of the
road. With the children in the back seat
of the car, both Erin and Mark got out and
tried to put the fire out. Erin was completely
engulfed and Mark only had a bit of fire
on his pants. According to several witnesses,
Mark didn't make any attempts to try to save the children, he was also
not trying to help Erin.
As the car started to roll backwards down
a slope, Erin started chasing it screaming
that he had killed her babies. While Erin
was trying to save her children, Mark was
trying to find a ride away from the scene.
According to witnesses, Mark stole the car
of a woman who had stopped to help, pushing
her daughter out of the way and taking off in the car. When firefighters
finally arrived, they found the children had both burned to death in the
backseat of the car. Erin suffered burns over 80% of her body, though she
did survive, she was in the hospital for over a year with most of that
time being spent in a coma.
The Public Defender, David Headley, in
his opening statement said that Mark was in a jealous rage when he set
Erin on fire, but, that he never intended to kill her or the children.
David Headley stated that it had only been Mark's intention to scare Erin.
The prosecutor in the case, Paul Graves
said that Mark had intentionally set Erin, Devlin who was six years
old and Daelin who was two years old, on fire that night of December 18,
2003. Paul Graves added:
"He intended to kill Erin Weaver. He
intended to kill those kids,"
"He left those kids with the last image
of him dousing their mother with
gasoline, gas flying all over the car,
then black smoke," "That, ladies
and gentlemen, is a far cry from a
Christmas shopping trip."
David Headley has stated that Mark is shattered
and devasted by what happened as he never intended to kill anyone. In the
past, Mark had threatened ex-girlfriends with
knives, but, because he is not a homicidal
man, he never stabbed anyone. In the
case of Erin, Devlin and Daelin, Mark
had only intended to scare Erin, adding:
"He had the wrong weapon and he lost
control of it,"
David Headley states that Mark only poured
gas on Erin and did not splash it all over
the car and the fire was not intentional.
Mark claims that Erin was high on a large
dose of Methamphetamine and while trying
to push the lighters away, she caught
herself on fire. Mark claims it was during
this time that she knocked over the bottle
of gas and it spilled out onto the floor.
Mark also claims that he burned his face and
his hands trying to save Devlin and Daelin,
though witnesses say this is not true. He
says that when he looked in the car and
saw the children were dead, that is when he
left the scene. Mark was arrested the
next day.
Mark Anthony Fregia has been charged with
two counts of murder, one count of
attempted murder, arson causing great
bodily injury, aggravated mayhem, kidnapping and carjacking. Mark also
faces several enhancement and special
circumstances charges which include committing
multuple murders and killing Devlin
and Daelin while involved in mahem. These
allegations could lead Mark to death row where he would await the death
penatly.
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