DAYTON, Maine — A Saco man arrested after allegedly holding his estranged wife and mother-in-law hostage during an armed standoff with police Tuesday night was angry over having received a protection order from his wife, police believe.
Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety, confirmed Wednesday that Donald Henson, 47, of Saco will face additional charges of arson for allegedly setting fires to his own home and truck, as well as to the 645 Goodwins Mills Road home in Dayton where the Tuesday night standoff took place.
Henson was previously charged with aggravated attempted murder and criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon after allegedly firing a gun at the women in the Dayton home the night of the incident. Police say he allegedly held his wife and mother-in-law in the residence temporarily, but that they had escaped the building unharmed.
“This was a case of domestic violence,” McCausland said. “He’s had some serious health issues. In addition, there was a protection from abuse order served to him the night before, and we surmised that that set him off on this domestic violence rampage.”
McCausland said investigators from the state fire marshal’s office believe Henson set a fire in the basement of his 2 Maple St. home in Saco on Tuesday before driving to his mother-in-law’s home on Goodwins Mills Road in Dayton, where he allegedly set his truck and the residence there on fire as well.
A burst water pipe helped extinguish the Saco fire quickly, McCausland said, but the Dayton home was destroyed by the blaze. Maj. William King of the York County Sheriff’s Office said Henson kept police and firefighters at bay with a firearm from a secondary structure on the Goodwins Mills Road property, obstructing responders from being able to try and put out the blaze there until it was essentially too late.
King announced on Wednesday that bail was set for Henson at $100,000. He was scheduled to make his first court appearance in Biddeford District Court on Wednesday.
Wild looking dude.
Give the guy a break. He’s had a very busy day. Probably not even time to shower.
That’s fing funny! LOL
He might not have been able too, if he couldn’t get his things or have a home or a place to go too.
Shoddy reporting.Captain Lou Albano has been dead for years….
kinda looks like the guy on Storage wars…………….
I think that cause and effect are being confused here. Generally speaking, a protection from abuse order indicates that there have been previous incidents of abuse, with the accused flying into a rage prior to the filing of the order. He reacted to the order the way he did because he felt entitled to bully his way through life and blamed the victim for his outrageous behavior.
Seriously! This headline needs to be changed to reflect proper accountability. How about something like “Man sets fire to property and holds hostages at gunpoint, in spite of a protective order.” Yep, it’s all the fault of the PFA. Clearly this spouse was just asking for it…Frustrating!
Anytime a woman has to get a protection order she should also get a gun. A piece of paper is not protection a gun is.
Mountain Man !!!
So the PFA did this woman no good. 24 hours later she is held at gunpoint. I see the police were right on top of this case.
Given how many of these kind of cases there appear to be in Maine, the police are not able to stay on top of these cases the way we would like. A piece of paper does not necessarily protect anyone. A PFA is only effective with individuals who have at least a little respect for the law. For anyone who considers themselves above the law, they do not work. Well, there is always the Delores Claiborne solution…
SOLUTION ..STOP issuing the worthless documents!!……. it”s like pouring gas on an already burning Fire….
How about batterers stop battering? That would be the ideal solution.
Legally, it becomes necessary sometimes for a victim to get a PFA because then it is a charge that may stick if the assault and battery, domestic terrorizing, etc is not taken seriously by the police, DAs, judges, etc.
Otherwise, I still like Delores Claiborne’s idea.
here is, sometimes how invalid the document can be…witch gets one on her man, NOT getting $$$$ from him now, as she can”t go or be near him, and he was honoring the document,….. witch goes to court before judge and rescinds that document, saying OH…he is not dangerous..I was drinking during the time of said happening!!!!!!!!!! OK
In that instance what is invalid is not the document, but the relationship itself. If any relationship is based on power and control and violence, it is not a relationship but a poor imitation of one. If people play games with the system, it does not mean the system is invalid. The way they use, or abuse it is the problem.
There is no acceptable level of abuse in any relationship between any two human beings, period.
If the judge used their good judgement, a good percentage of those documents would not be issued, therefore eliminating some of the potential to escalate a brewing problem!! people lie on a daily basis to obtain these documents….if the violence happens once it will happen again, so forget the documents…. ORDER them directly to attend anger management classes,(both) and strict therapy.. BEFORE the escalation takes place….those documents are not worth the price of ink on them!!!!
Yeah, I’ve plenty of protection orders issued by an abuser where one used the order to bully someone around. In cases they get away with it, and get what they want. The reason people try to accuse their ex spouses of abuse to get custody of the children. What law is out there to help the victims? In this case not just the one listed as an abuser in the abuse order.
A Navy lifer, ex wife files for abuse of the kids, and he remarries with new children and no issues? Was he really abusive?
How about a supposedly recently ex pot smoker calling soon to be ex spouse psychotic and is paranoid for the kids safety files for abuse?
Imagine being in a hospital being treated for cancer when your ex or soon to be ex spouse files abuse?
Imagine not even knowing the person who accused you of abuse?
In cases, where do some of these people go? Especially, in the dead of winter?
I, can empathize with your comment, as it’s told over and over again in the news/courts!!! just different set of circumstances. There needs to be something put in place to stop people from obtaining these false abuse orders!!! that ruin peoples”s lives!! Some are legit stories, but the system needs to be more responsible in their decision making process, in obtaining the PO without extensive investigation, which I doubt will happen due to the costs; and seems to be that is all people talk about is $$$ when it comes to justice!!
Huhmmm, ” let me set fire to MY OWN TRUCK AND HOUSE”…….Psych eval anyone?
Why was the PFA served on him in the first place, Break a mans heart and weird stuff happens
Yes, let’s keep justifying behavior that is unacceptable and unjustifiable. NOT!
time for the abused and abuser to wear a tracking type device. with some type of alert if the two are within say 500 ft of each other.. must be some type of technology to do that.. if not there should be. and if it does, it immediately alerts to nearest police station.. i hate that the abuser would have to, but it could save a life.. if the man power isnt there in our police depts..use the advanced technology available
a few years ago in portland the cop was bringing the lady to get her stuff and the ex who had the protection order againest them shot and killed her why the cop was right there.
It seems protection from abuse orders don’t work. Perhaps what they should issue are armed bodyguards.
There is no excuse for domestic abuse.
I hope he gets his health concerns straightened out.
To think she looked into his eyes lovingly and longingly to say the two words “I DO”.
Didn’t have much self respect.
or sense
Let’s remember that many abusive individuals can act like the kindest, most attentive and loving people, until they have convinced the object of their desire to marry them. Then once the ring is on the finger, they flip the script.
seeing quite a few fugly men in the paper lately..
That’s kind what I meant when I wondered how she could look at him and say ‘I do’. :)
This guy probably contemptplated taking his own life during the stand off, why else would he burn his own home and truck. Oh well, he probably won’t need either of them now anyway. Ever think that he may have gotten set off like that when the local barber refused to style his hair?
What a travesty and such a handsome man ta boot.
He was honestly a nice guy. He just one day finally snapped. He did have PTSD from having his caravan bombed. He should’ve gotten the help he needed, it’s to bad.