Victim’s Family Thanks Witnesses Who Assisted Investigation
BOSTON, July 6, 2017—The second of two defendants was arraigned today for allegedly setting fire to a Roxbury building last year, killing 29-year-old Michelle Trentor, who was trapped inside, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.
KENNETH FORD (D.O.B. 9/10/73) was arraigned on charges of arson and second-degree felony murder. At the request of Assistant District Attorney David McGowan, Conley’s arson point prosecutor, he was held without bail. Ford’s co-defendant, MARCUS DOZIER (D.O.B. 6/6/71), was held without bail yesterday on identical charges. Both will return to court on Aug. 3.
Family photo of Michelle Trentor
The Suffolk County Grand Jury on June 28 returned indictments charging both men in connection with the Nov. 5 fire on George Street that also left a second victim with life-threatening injuries. Boston Police detectives apprehended Dozier on Monday and Ford yesterday.
In a statement released today, members of Trentor’s family expressed gratitude to police and prosecutors – and to the witnesses who assisted investigators even as they wrestled with the same addictions that had left Trentor homeless.
“Michelle’s family would like to thank the people that have come forward,” they wrote. “We hope that with the light that Michelle shined within your hearts, you take care of yourselves. She would have wanted you all to live your lives to the fullest, on your terms. From our family, we wish for you what we wished for Michelle, that you get the help you need. We have no doubt that Michelle would have eventually gotten there too. Above all there is always hope.”
The evidence developed by Boston Police homicide detectives, Boston Fire Department investigators, and Conley’s arson point prosecutor suggests that Ford and Dozier were among of a group of homeless men and women who, like Trentor, occupied and/or used drugs in the abandoned building at 94 George St. in Roxbury.
Ford and Dozier allegedly set fire to items on the buildings first-floor on Nov. 4, though the fire did not spread. In the apparent belief that the house was going to be demolished and workmen might enter, they allegedly made statements to witnesses at different times that there was “something in that house” that they “need to get rid of” and that people should leave the property early the next morning and “not ask questions,” prosecutors said.
On the morning of Nov. 5, Boston Water and Sewer contractors working in the immediate area observed a man who was on fire stagger from the house. The workers called 911, and the Boston Fire Department arrived within minutes to find heavy fire showing from all of the building’s three floors.
The surviving burn victim, a 37-year-old homeless man, was transported by Boston EMS personnel to Boston Medical Center with life-threatening injuries and later transferred to the burn unit at Massachusetts General Hospital. He survived his injuries.
Trentor’s body was discovered by members of the Boston Fire Department as they searched through the rubble of the collapsed building. Her death was determined to be the result of smoke inhalation and thermal injuries.
In the aftermath of the fatal fire, Dozier and Ford each separately made statements to witnesses implicating themselves in the arson, prosecutors said.
Elise McConnell is the DA’s assigned victim-witness advocate. Dozier and Ford are represented by attorneys Michael Roitman and Robert Griffin, respectively.
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All defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
