Arson suspect went to reunion
Milpitas native told investigators he set fires in an ‘emotional’ state
MILPITAS >> Rich Santoro was meeting with a high school friend at a local pizzeria Thursday, reminiscing about the 50th class reunion they had organized over the weekend, when his friend got a text message asking about the arrest of a classmate.
When he opened the newspaper Fri- day morning, he saw a mugshot and a headline about grass fires set by an arsonist. It was Freddie Graham, who had attended the reunion of Samuel Ayer High School alumni that Saturday night at the Sheraton in Milpitas. Not far away, the east hills near the Calaveras Reservoir were burning.
“At first we didn’t want to believe it. It’s gotta be someone else,” Santoro said he remembered thinking. “Then I saw the picture. Holy smokes, that’s him.”
“It was mouth-dropping,” he said.
The 68-year-old Graham, a Mil
pitas native who has lived in the Kansas City, Missouri, area for the past three decades, has been charged with setting 13 grass fires Sept. 20-21.
Ultimately, the Reservoir fire burned 128 acres of grassland — including cattle grazing land worth $47,600 — but caused no injuries or damage to structures.
Graham is being held in the Elmwood men’s jail in Milpitas in lieu of $2 million bail. Interviews with authorities and people who attended the reunion, as well as investigative reports about the arson, suggest a timeline in which Graham flew into San Jose from Missouri on Thursday, set four fires Friday, set nine more Saturday and then attended the reunion.
He was returning a rental car — his second of the weekend, after reportedly swapping out the one seen by a witness at the fires — when he was arrested Monday by Cal Fire officials at Mineta San Jose International Airport, where he was catching a flight back to the Midwest.
According to a Cal Fire investigative report submitted to prosecutors, Graham was photographed by an unidentified witness in a silver SUV near the scene of a grass fire reported about 12:45 p.m. Friday.
He was spotted again about 24 hours later in the same area, this time by Cal Fire personnel who were battling a new set of grass fires.
A battalion chief ordered his colleagues to “stop that car,” referring to Graham’s SUV, but the vehicle left the scene, according to the report.
When the battalion chief
was shown a photo of Graham, he recognized him “instantaneously.”
“That’s the guy, no doubt; it’s him,” the report states.
Hours later, Graham appeared at his class reunion and showed no signs that he was upset or troubled, Santoro said.
“He was excited to come. I talked to him five or six times during the night. He was happy he was there. He told me, ‘I didn’t expect to have this much fun.’ It turns out he had already set the fires.”
Similar observations were offered by a woman who said she met Graham on an online dating site in July. She told WDAF-TV in Kansas City that she exchanged text messages with him at a time when he allegedly was setting the Friday fires.
“He sounded normal,” she told the TV station. “He sounded happy.”
After his arrest, Graham gave investigators a starkly different impression, according to the Cal Fire report. He reportedly said that he and his late wife — who records
show died in 2018 — had planned to drive together on Calaveras Road, which leads to the reservoir.
“Because she passed away and could not be with him, it made him emotional, starting the fires,” the report states.
Santoro said Graham told him something similar, about scuttled plans to “drive up this road together” when he invited Graham to the reunion during a conversation May.
According to the report, Graham also told investigators that he lighted paper from a bag and napkins from a fast-food restaurant, rolled them up and tossed them out of the front passenger side of the rental SUV. The report also noted that Graham does not smoke but carried two lighters in his travel bag.
When asked why he carried the lighters, he reportedly told investigators, “To light things.”
Graham has denied requests for comment or a jail interview. He faces 13 counts of arson — one for each fire
he allegedly ignited — and two special counts for arson during a state of emergency declared by Gov. Gavin Newsom in March, ahead of wildfire
season. He is scheduled to return to court Monday for possible entry of a plea.
Graham also faces an arson charge in Missouri related to allegations that in August 2018 he set fire to a tractor-trailer in Lone Jack, his listed city of residence. WDAF-TV reported,
citing court records, that Graham was on hand as firefighters put out the blaze, and when shown video of the incident, allegedly stated, “I guess I done it.”