Man Charged In Arson Fire, Kidnapping: Middletown Police

MIDDLETOWN, CT — A man has been arrested in connection with a recent arson fire in Middletown in which police said he tried to light a woman on fire.

Police responded to the 500 block of Washington Street around 10:30 p.m. on Feb. 18, where a woman got out of a trailer to speak to officers. A man inside the trailer, identified as 55-year-old Eugene E. Boudreau Jr., poured gasoline on the victim and the residence in an attempt to light the victim and the trailer on fire, according to police.

Negotiations to get Boudreau to exit failed, and he lit the trailer on fire, police said.

“Within a few minutes of the fire starting, Boudreau exited,” police wrote in a news release. “Police attempted to negotiate his surrender from a safe distance. Boudreau turned himself over to perimeter officers but only after his trailer was fully engulfed in flames and a neighboring trailer was beginning to catch fire. Once Boudreau was detained, Middletown Fire Personnel entered the scene and extinguished the fires without incident or injury. Boudreau’s actions led to the destruction of his trailer, an adjacent trailer, and two motor vehicles nearby.”

Boudreau suffered burns on his body. He was taken to Middlesex Hospital and airlifted to Bridgeport Hospital’s burn unit for treatment, according to police.

Boudreau was released from Bridgeport Hospital on March 6, turned over to the Middletown Police Department and arrested on a warrant.

He was charged with first-degree arson, first-degree kidnapping, criminal attempt to commit first-degree assault, first-degree reckless endangerment, first-degree unlawful restraint, first-degree threatening, second-degree criminal mischief, second-degree breach of peace, and disorderly conduct.

Boudreau was held in lieu of a $1 million bond and appeared in court on Monday, according to police.