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Man sentenced in fatal arson
Bradley Eric Watson, 23, right, listens to Cabell Circuit Judge Dan O'Hanlon during his guilty plea Friday, July 24, 2009, at the Cabell Circuit Court. Watson was convicted of the May 9, 2008, death of Deanna O'brien Vandixhorn.
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HUNTINGTON -- A daughter 800 miles away spoke words of advice Friday to the man convicted of killing her mother, Deanna O'brien Vandixhorn.
Vandixhorn, a native of Iowa, died May 9, 2008, when an intentionally set fire trapped her inside of a second-story duplex apartment at 2688 Collis Ave.
Krista Jacob urged Bradley Eric Watson to think of her mother's final moments anytime he considers returning to a life of destructive behavior. She spoke via a speakerphone from Des Moines, Iowa. She vowed to keep Watson in her thoughts and prayers.
"This is your chance to become a different kind of person," she said. "(Think about) those last few minutes of her life when she was desperately trying to get out of her apartment with flames blazing around her and smoke stifling her. I hope you'll think about what that experience, fear and terror was like for this woman. What a horrible way that must have been for her life to end, and that will help you get back on the right track."
Watson entered an 11th-hour Kennedy plea, which afforded him the opportunity to be convicted of second-degree murder without admitting any wrongdoing. The agreement included a 30-year prison sentence. The offer allowed him to escape a longer prison term had a jury convicted him of first-degree murder next week.
Watson continued to deny involvement after court. He showed no remorse when asked for reaction to Jacob's statement.
"All I have to say is, I didn't do it," he said. "I have children of my own. I would not set a house on fire that I knew there was children in."
Cabell County Prosecutor Chris Chiles said his case would have proved Watson intentionally set a mattress ablaze near the duplex's entrance. Chiles believed it was an act of retaliation for another resident's mistreatment and abuse to Watson's then girlfriend, who had previously dated the targeted occupant.
Watson admitted to igniting the fire hours later in a conversation with an ex-girlfriend, according to court documents and testimony. She alerted police. She described Watson as upset because he did not know Vandixhorn was inside. He later admitted to telling his ex-girlfriend the story, but claimed it was a fictitious tale.
Chiles said it matched the findings of two, independent fire investigators. Watson neither denied nor affirmed Chiles' account in court.
Krista Jacob was grateful "for some level of conclusion to at least one part of this terrible situation." She acknowledged the pain that she believes brought Watson's life to a point at which he set the deadly fire.
"Setting a place on fire obviously set forces in motion you may not be able to control," she said. "My hope is whatever pain bought you to this point -- either a pain in your life, sadness or whatever it is -- my hope is that you'll take this opportunity to heal it. I don't know if you'll find that through God, or if you'll just find that through some other kind of social awareness or social cause, but you're a young man and I hope that you can turn yourself about and become a productive member of society."
Vandixhorn's other daughter, Tamra Jacob of Rush, Ky., watched the proceedings in court. She remembered her mother as a wonderful person, who loved her grandchildren. The Iowa native traveled to Huntington to be closer to Tamra Jacob, who had met her husband and moved to the Tri-State. Vandixhorn was not employed at the time of her death.
"She loved to make people laugh," Tamra Jacob said. "She just didn't deserve to die."
Cabell Circuit Judge Dan O'Hanlon presided over Friday's plea and sentencing. He hoped the resolution would provide closure to everyone involved.
"I know it is very, very difficult to go through this," he said. "I know that the defendant in his heart knows that he did not intend to kill this woman. He intended to perhaps do something else, but that she was the innocent victim ... I believe he is doing the right thing by taking responsibility for his actions."
Watson had rejected multiple opportunities to plead guilty, but changed his mind following a motions hearing Friday morning.
