THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, April 28, 1995 TAG: 9504280483
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: DANBURY, CONN. LENGTH: Medium: 52 lines
A warrant was issued Thursday for the arrest of a North Carolina man in the deaths of five men April 18 at a rental home he owns in Connecticut.
Geoffrey Ferguson, 44, of Powells Point, N.C., was charged in the warrant with five counts of murder, one count of arson, and a capital felony. If convicted of the capital felony charge, he could face the death penalty.
The Superior Court judge who signed the warrant set bond at $2 million.
Ferguson is already in custody in North Carolina, where he is being held on a fugitive warrant based on charges he faced in Connecticut stemming from a rental dispute he had with his tenants.
Connecticut authorities said they would issue a second fugitive warrant based on the new charges.
Three tenants at Ferguson's home in Redding, and two men visiting at the house, were found dead or mortally wounded April 18 after an arson fire gutted the house.
All of the victims died of gunshot wounds to the head.
Family members and friends of the slain men said Ferguson had become enraged in recent weeks over a bounced rent check from his three tenants: Scott Auerbach, 21; David Froehlich, 22; and Jason Trusewicz, 21.
Also killed were were David Gartrell, 25, and Sean Hiltunen, 21, both friends of the three roommates.
Four of the men were found inside the arson-gutted house.
Auerbach, who was pulled from the burning building, lived long enough to point police to Ferguson. While being treated at the scene, he said he had been beaten up by his landlord. He died on the way to the hospital.
After the tenants' March rent check bounced, Ferguson attempted to evict them.
In a lawsuit filed April 7 in small claims court, Auerbach and Trusewicz accused Ferguson of ransacking their apartment, stealing more than $3,000 worth of their belongings, and damaging other belongings.
The roommates had also lodged complaints against Ferguson for various health and zoning violations.
The day before the fire, police informed Ferguson that his attempted eviction was illegal and that he would have to allow the tenants to stay in his house until the dispute could be settled legally. ILLUSTRATION: Associated Press color photo
Geoff Ferguson is escorted into the Pasquotank County Court...
by CNB