Police: Detroit man, 91, was victim of homicide
DETROIT -- The death of a 91-year-old man who was found burned following an early-morning house fire Monday is being investigated as a homicide, Detroit police said.
Sgt. Michael Woody told The Detroit News that investigators found that the man's body was covered with an accelerant, most likely gasoline, and that the man had experienced "potentially fatal trauma" before he was set on fire. The man's van was missing from his home on the city's northwest side.
The News and WWJ-AM, citing family members, identified the man as Paul Monchnik, who worked for more than 50 years as a self-employed television repairman before retiring.
Woody said there were "indications that the house was broken into and that there was a robbery." Authorities released a photo of a suspect along with surveillance video showing him with a gas canister at a gas station.
Family members received a call from neighbors about the fire, said Scott Monchnik, the man's son.
"There was no fire when we got here; it was out," he said. "But everything was charred. I don't know what went on."
Scott Monchnik, who now lives in suburban Detroit, said it is unlikely the van was borrowed with his father's permission. Scott Monchnik had spoken with his father on Sunday and was told the keys to the van were missing.
"There's nobody else that would borrow the car," he said. "Nobody lived with him."