One week ago, on Tuesday, April 27, a Seattle man told police that he lit the Lower Queen Anne based Ride the Ducks building on fire in an attempt to dissuade two men who he claimed were chasing him from following him into the building. This week the King County Prosecutor’s Office charged Dean Robert Oleson with second degree arson, stating that he “knowingly and maliciously” started a fire and explosion that caused an estimated $70,000 in damage to the building.

(Photo courtesy of KING5, reposted with permission).

As we reported last week, Oleson, 50, told police that he ran into the building where he is employed (located at 516 Broad St.) early in the morning on the 27th because he was being chased by two unknown men who had followed him from his apartment several blocks away. According to the SPD Blotter, Oleson told police that he immediately locked the door and set the alarm after entering the building, but that the two men continued to break in through the windows and one went onto the roof to cut the telephone lines (explaining why he couldn’t call 911). Oleson then told police that he intentionally set a fire on the second floor in the hopes of setting off the fire alarm, which would alert the Fire Department and police, who would then come to help him.

The suspect stated that plan wasn’t working fast enough, so he jumped out the second story window and ran to the 200 Block of 5th Avenue North where he called 911.

The SPD report stated that “there was no indication that the phone lines had been cut or that any windows had been broken,” and one witness who was at a nearby bus stop at the time of the incident reported that “he heard or saw no one trying to get into the business and he heard nothing else unusual.”

Oleson reiterated the story to detectives investigating the incident, and further details in the charging documents reveal that he may have been truly under the impression that he was being chased. From the charging documents:

“Oleson said he first saw a shoe sticking out from under his bed. Oleson yelled at them, telling them to leave. Oleson left the aparment. Oleson returned and said he saw two people under his bed and then two people hiding under clothes in his closet. Oleson said he left his apartment telling them he was callng the police. Oleson said they chased him into the Ride the Ducks business where they continued to pursue him, so he set the fire to call the fire department. When questioned about drug use, Oleson eventually said he had smoked Meth earlier in the day.”

Oleson’s arraignment is currently set for Friday, May 14. In the charging documents Deputy Prosecutor Tuyen Lam requested that bail be set at $125,000, noting Oleson’s prior criminal history: convictions for Attempted VUCSA, Property Destruction, and a DUI which was amended to Negligent Driving.

“There is great concern he may have mental health or substance abuse problems given his admissions made to law enforcement,” Lam wrote. “The defendant has had 5 warrants since 1985 issued in King County alone.”

Ten years ago today two Queen Anne families died in a plane crash returning from a vacation in Mexico together. Alaska Airlines flight 261 went down off the coast of Southern California, taking 88 lives, including those of the Clemetsons, the Pearsons, and their six children, ages six months to just eight years old. And although the tragedy happened a decade ago, the community will never forget.

In their honor, friends and neighbors dedicated Queen Anne’s Soundview Terrace Park to Carolyn Margiotta and David Clemetson and their children, Cori, Blake, Miles and Spencer, and Sarah Manning, Rod, Rachel and Gracie Pearson.

They remember the children as best friends and even renamed the park “Rachel’s Playground,” after one of the girls, who would be getting her drivers license this year.

Every year a small group gathers for a memorial service at the park, but as this year marks the 10th anniversary of the crash, friends and neighbors of the families have decided to open up the memorial to the public, in honor of all of the lives lost that day.

Anyone is welcome to join in for music and a candle lighting today, from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. at Rachel’s Playground, located at 2500 11 Ave W. They will be lighting 88 candles – one for each person on flight 261.

Two friends, Mari Ingram and Stephanie Bower, are the organizers behind today’s memorial. For them, even ten years later, they cannot forget their friends.

“It’s hard to imagine an entire family just disappearing,” Bower told KING5. ”At their house you could still smell the coffee on the kitchen table.”

“It’s like they were trapped in time,” Ingram added.

Read more on the 10th anniversary of the Alaska Airlines flight 261 crash at our news partner, the Seattle Times.