Man Charged Following Fatal Arson Investigation

DENTON, TX, April 30, 2025 - A Denton man is facing four arson charges, including two first-degree felonies, following a joint Denton Fire and Police investigation into the December deaths of an elderly couple.

Investigators determined that John Howard Ore, 36, intentionally set three fires in December and January, one of which killed 103-year-old Dante Bassi and 83-year-old Marilyn Bradley-Bassi in their Houston Place home.

The first fire occurred around 3 a.m. on Dec. 17, 2024, at a restaurant in the 6400 block of I-35. The building sustained significant fire damage, and no one was injured.

The next day at 10:54 p.m., Denton FD responded to a structure fire in the 2000 block of Houston Place. Firefighters rescued the two victims from the home, but the couple later succumbed to their injuries at area hospitals.

At 10:14 p.m. on Jan. 21, 2025, Denton FD extinguished a fire at a daycare in the 1700 block of W. Oak Street. Video footage showed a man breaking a window with a stone, spraying a liquid through the window, and igniting a small fire in the building. No one was injured.

Evidence collected from each location showed that the fires were started in similar manners. Additional video footage and other evidence led investigators to identifying Ore as the suspect in all three arsons.

On Jan. 23, Ore was arrested on two counts of Arson for the restaurant and daycare fires.

Since then, the Tarrant County and Dallas County Medical Examiner's Offices have ruled the manners of death for the Houston Place victims as homicide. Denton PD and FD investigators subsequently secured two additional warrants for Arson Causing Serious Bodily Injury or Death, the second of which was served on Tuesday afternoon.

Ore is in the Denton County Jail in lieu of a $2.1 million bond.

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