A Family Tragedy

A young family died in an apartment fire in Keene, N.H.

Was it arson? Katelyn Arp looks at the tragic deaths of four members of the Hina family.

Transcript

On January 14th, 1989, a tragedy... struck the City of Keene, New Hampshire. (Very quiet music starts in the background) At 2:25 a.m. a fire was reported, at 88 High Street in Keene New Hampshire. This suspicious fire ended up killing 4 members of the Hina family. The 15 others in the apartment building that night were luckily able to escape. Only the Hina family wasn’t able to escape that night.

This is Katelyn Arp, you're listening to Gone Cold New Hampshire.

The Hina family, a husband, wife, and two kids... were living in the apartment in Keene at the time... ALL ended up dying from smoke inhalation from the fire. Carl Hina, the father, was found dead at the scene when help arrived. Lori, the wife, and Lillian, and Sara Hina, the two children were taken to Cheshire Medical Center….

They too died later that night. While the fire was FIRST thought to be an accident, caused by smoking materials, after further investigation... that seemed to NOT... be the case... (Music stops) But before we get into that let me introduce you to the family.

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Background of the Family:

Carl and Lori Hina were newlyweds living together in their Keene apartment at the time of the fire. Also living with them was their 4-month-old daughter Lillian and Carls 12-year-old daughter Sarah from a previous engagement. The newlyweds had gotten married December 31st, 1988... not even a full month before the tragic fire.

Carl R. Hina was 49 at the time of the fire. He was a taxi driver who worked hard to support his family. Elaine Paire, of Swanzey, N.H. who was previously engaged to Carl for a year and a half in the 80’s but stayed good friends with him after was quoted in a local newspaper saying QUOTE “He was a good man, he would do anything for anybody. Never hurt anybody that I know of. I mean, he was a really nice person.” END QUOTE....

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Elaines daughter, Theresa LaBarge said QUOTE “she looked up to Hina as a father figure and remembered him as a hard-working man who loved to fish.” END QUOTE.

Elaine was just left wondering why... why would someone do this to a family. QUOTE "I want to know the reasoning behind it. You know, why?" LaBarge said. "It was a mother, father 12-year-old and 4-month-old baby. Why?" END QUOTE

While I was able to find some information about Carl Hina, unfortunately... after extensive research I could not find any information about Lori Hina who was 26 at the time of her death. Her mother is very sad by the loss of her child though and misses her greatly. There was unfortunately also no information and Sara or Lillian out there either.

The Night of the Fire:

Elizabeth Kennedy, who was living in the apartment at the time of the fire recalls that night 25 years later.

That night Elizabeth and her boyfriend were at their apartment playing cribbage at the time of the fire. They lived in a second-floor apartment, right next door to the Hina's apartment. Her and her boyfriend recall hearing a loud thump in the hallway then someone yelling QUOTE “Fire, I’m not kidding!” END QUOTE

While her boyfriend went to the fire escape to call 911 Elizabeth went next door to try and help the Hina family get out of the building. She tried to help Sara Hina escape the fire, but Sara went back to try and help her family.

QUOTE “I grabbed Sara and tried getting her out, and she pulled away,” she said. “I couldn’t do anything more but go downstairs because the smoke was too heavy.” END QUOTE

Kennedy said the night was horrible and the Hina's were very nice people.

That night fire marshals declared the fire an accident caused by a woman falling asleep on the couch with a lit cigarette. Just two weeks later they said it was started by an open flame but did NOT want to call the fire arson. A month after that prosecutors said they suspected there would be no arrests... there weren't.

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The David McLeod Case:

The case was considered COLD for nearly 25 years before David McLeod was arrested at age 32, on 4 counts of reckless second-degree murder, the summer of 2010. The case was

reopened in 2009, but it was not until the summer of 2010 that David was arrested and facing charges.

Why did it take so long for the case to be reopened? Why did it take so long for David to be arrested? How did they figure out how to arrest David. ALL questions many wondered when the case was finally reopened...

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The summer of 2010 David was arrested in his West Sacramento, California home that he had been living at for the past 15 years. David moved to California very shortly after the 1989 fire. Davids's wife who was home the time of his arrest said she knew absolutely nothing about the allegations or even the fire until the police came knocking at her door. Her and David have two children together, two sons.

David was a suspect in the original 1989 investigation, but no arrests were made at that time. It wasn’t until 2009 when New Hampshire started their first cold case unit that he was looked into again and arrested.

After investigators looked back at police reports and saw he bragged about starting the fire that night, David was arrested...

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Many were drunk the night of the fire so did not want to cooperate and talk to the police when first questioned. It was not until David was arrested and tried so many years later that people wanted to talk.

Elizebeth Kennedy who I talked about earlier recalls David saying to her and her boyfriend QUOTE “I did a good job, didn’t I” END QUOTE shortly after the fire bragging about

what he did. While Kennedy did not want to talk about David in great detail she did say, QUOTE “We all suspected him because of the way he acted, the way he was” END QUOTE.

Why would he do this though. Why would he want to burn down an apartment building with a family living in it, a family he did not even know. With people living in it in general.

Residents said David was probably there to get revenge against his ex-girlfriend, Wanda Ford, who lived in the apartment building at the time of the fire. More so to get revenge against some male residents of the building for having relationships with his former girlfriend.

It was also suspected he started the fire to get back at anyone living in the apartment building who he felt had given him a hard time.

Whatever the reason may have been a family tragically died in result of the fire.

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The David Mcleod Trial.

While David was arrested in 2010 the trial did not end up taking place until December 2013. The reason it took so long for the case to start was because in 2011 David tried to appeal for bail which he was denied but that pushed the case back for a while dealing with that. David was also pleading not guilty to all 4-murder charges.

There was lots of he said she said in the trial. Because many people did not come forward about what they remember happening that night until more then 20 years later it was easy for Davids's defense lawyers to defend him.

David lawyers argued that while he was at a party at a first floor the apartment shortly before the fire it was not him who started it. Him bragging about setting the fire was only him being QUOTE “a drunken fool” END QUOTE

People who were at that party that night recall David threatening to burn down the apartment only a couple weeks before the suspicious fire. Party goers also recall David bragging about the fire as the apartment was burning. Seeming very happy that the building was up in flames. And just acting very strange for the tragedy that occurred that night.

Wanda Ford was the only one there that night that did not believe David set the fire.

Even with all this evidence of David being suspicious that night, the Jury could not reach a unanimous verdict. There was a retrial set for early February of 2014... at least that’s when it was supposed to be...

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In February of 2014 after 3 and a half years behind bars... David McLeod walked away from Cheshire County House of Corrections... a free man. The state decided to drop ALL FOUR murder charges against him. And to no longer retry him in April. They said there was no new evidence so it would just be another mistrial.

Conclusion:

The investigation continues into what caused the tragic fire that killed the Hina family in 1989. The case is STILL open, and no new leads have been found since the David MeLeod case wrapped up in 2014.

If you have any information that could help investors solve this case reach out the New Hampshire cold case unit.

For now, this case remains COLD... This has been Katelyn... Gone Cold NH.

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