Police: Prime suspect in fatal Water Gap Diner fire died last October of drug overdose

Jan. 22--Authorities believe they have solved the 2010 Water Gap Diner arson homicide, but the perpetrator will never be brought to trial and some details will forever remain a mystery.

Victim Rigas Ioannidis, 72, then the Delaware Water Gap diner's owner, wasn't even the target, Pennsylvania State Police said Thursday.

What we do know is that the prime suspect died last October from a drug overdose, Trooper Rob Sebastianelli said. The Monroe County District Attorney's Office was on the verge of charging the suspect when he died, he added.

Assistant District Attorney Mike Mancuso decided it was best not to name the alleged perpetrator -- a decision Sabastianelli said the state police support -- out of concern for the suspect's surviving family members. Calls to Mancuso and District Attorney Dave Christine for comment weren't returned.

The suspect was a drug dealer who hadn't been paid for delivering cocaine to a tenant of a ground floor apartment in the diner building, Sabastianelli said.

Investigators believe the perpetrator tried several times to collect money, before lighting a fire at the tenant's door in the rear of the building during the pre-dawn of March 22, 2010. The blaze shot up to the second story apartment where Ioannidis lived and was sleeping. He died of thermal injuries and heat inhalation.

"The fire was set right outside the door of this person" who hadn't paid the drug debt, Sabastianelli said, "underneath the victim's apartment. We always believed (the fire) wasn't aimed at the victim."

Ioannidis was known as an outgoing, kind-hearted person who interacted with customers and provided free meals to people who were down on their luck.

Sebastianelli and Mancuso met with the Ioannidis family Thursday to present the results of their long, wide-ranging investigation.

"Of course, I'm sure they would have wanted an arrest to be made," Sabastianelli said of the family. "The suspect was developed through many, many man hours."

Video surveillance from a nearby building produced an image of a man leaving the scene whose hooded sweatshirt resembled one worn by the suspect. Phone records of the intended victim showed repeated phone calls from the suspect in the weeks leading up to the fire. The suspect -- who moved to Monroe County around 2002 -- had an extensive arrest history here and in New York City.

"This person was interviewed a couple of different times and at one time admitted to starting fires in New York" in the 1990s to collect insurance money, Sabastianelli said.

The suspect lived in the area, but not in Delaware Water Gap, he said. The man may have family members who still live in Monroe County.

Associates of the intended victim pointed to a possible drug connection to the suspect.

The state police Fire Marshal's Unit, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the FBI assisted with the investigation. Evidence was first presented to a Monroe County grand jury about two years ago.

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