Husband charged with murder in fatal fire
Published: November 19, 2008
Updated: November 19, 2008
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Police have charged a Woodbridge man with felony murder and arson in the death of his wife in a Monday house fire.
Mario Jennings Jr., 36, of 15281 Valley Stream Way in the Rippon Landing, was arrested on Tuesday, police said. He was being held without bond at the Prince William-Manassas regional jail.
Police said Jennings and his wife, Graciela Letizia Marandino, 31, were involved in a physical altercation early Monday and “she became unconscious.”
Jennings is charged with setting fires in two separate locations in the townhouse while his wife lay injured, Prince William County police spokeswoman Erika Hernandez said in a released statement.
Police said Marandino died of smoke inhalation in the resulting blaze.
Jennings suffered burns in the fire, but was treated at the hospital and released.
A man who lives next door to the couple said he heard a man screaming for help during the fire, but never heard a woman scream.
Neighbors said Marandino was studying to become a veterinarian and worked at a vet’s office in Springfield.
If convicted, Jennings faces a maximum of life plus 40 years in prison on the two charges.
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I dont know either of these people, but a murderer is a murderer and no matter how well you know him or her, it doesnt change the fact that he beat her, then set her on fire. It doesn’t matter who’s side you’re on or who is related to who. The world lost one person, and society will lock away another. No one wins here. I hope that instead of arguing like school children, someone will come forward and make an effort to help his daughter…like opening a trust fund and having people donate to it. They’re all victims of a senceless crime caused by senseless stupidity.
*****THIS GUY IS SCUM************* THE PAST IS DONE THIS GUY IS GONNA ROAST! HE IS A MURDERER AND I HOPE THEY THROW THE BOOK AT HIM. HOPE HE HAS A MISERABLE LIFE IN PRISON. BETTER GET A GOOD ATTORNEY CAUSE YOUR GONNA NEED 1. LOOSER!
We have all suffered a great tragedy in the events of this. However friends and family of Mario you need to stop using the rest of the community as your sounding board for what a great man he is. The bottom line is he is the sole survivor of a house fire that should not have claimed anyone’s life. Mario is the one who has left behind a wake of grief that will radiate for years to come. It will radiate thru his daughter, his family, and everyone who ever knew Grace. To know Grace was to love her. I have never met anyone in my life that brought so many smiles and warmth to so many people. It is truly a great loss for everyone who knew her, and all the people who had yet to meet her. I feel blessed for having known her the years I have.
For all of you who continue to want to comment on what Mario did or didn’t do, what you believe he could or couldn’t do, I would suggest you worry more now about the wake of grief he has left in his own family, especially his daughter who in one night lost her father and a woman who absolutely adored her. I would worry more about what is going on in your own houses about this and less about posting and proclaiming on here, because frankly those of us who are still trying to wrap our hearts around losing such an amazing person just don’t want to hear it anymore.
I did not know Grace or her husband, but I know her sister, and she is a wonderful person. I’m sure that Grace was just as woderful. I refuse to believe that Mario loved her. You do not hit or beat the ones you love; you do not kill the ones you love. Since the police had been called to their home before, you would think that they would not have just left once things calmed down. I remember a domestic dispute where a policeman was summoned and everyone calmed down. As soon as the officer left, the trouble restarted. The police should have known this would happen, and Mario deserves to spend his life in prison for this atrocious act; it does not matter how much he supposedly “loved” her. That is what an “amateur” like me believes.
Ellery,
I would sincerely suggest to you and your family members that you seek out a counselor or spiritual advisor and stop reading and posting to the internet forum, there will be no benefit to you from the comments of the amateurs in an internet forum.
In this case the internet is not your friend
nobody is dragging grace in the mud here and i never said my brother was right in anyway!! you nor i was in that house that night..but me being the SISTER i know alitte more then most of you,a life has been taken away from all and i want justice 4 grace just like the rest and if mario goes to jail then let it be but he is not this moster you paint him to be!!
I have knowm Mario for 19 years and never have I seen him get physical with a woman. Please hold all judgements till all facts are in!!!
STOP! Dont turn this around and make it look like Grace was at fault. You were not there that night, dont degrate her memory by making statements that you dont even know to be true. If you think these blogs your posting is in any way helping the matter, all you are doing is causing harder feelings. Dont forget you said you are his sister, dont try to put her on the same level as your brother that is not a place for her to be. It seems as though we are all forgeting that there is an innocent life lost in this tragedy.
did you not read careful? I SAID THAT IF THIS WAS SOMETHING THAT MARIO DID,then there will be JUSTICE FOR GRACE AND HE WILL HAVE TO FACE HIS CRIME,and do his TIME and if it was my brother who we lost i would want the same thing JUSTICE! Did you stop to think that maybe there was coke in grace,no,did you stop to think she also hit him, no, and im not here to say who was right and wrong,and paint her ulgy her life was lost,mario didnt put his hands around her neck and kill her,the fire did that he mite have set,so let the court do what they need to do and if mario is in jail 4 life over this then justice for grace has been done and mario has faced his crime,im as much for GRACE as i would be for my brother im not on one side here..
People that are saying that they have known him for years and he couldnt do this obviously dont really know him at all!He is capable of this and Justice will come.This was not the first person that he “Loved” and hurt.. There is a history of past charges of domestic abuse in past relationships,not to mention the Police were at his and Graces house quite a few times prior to this tragedy. Grace loved Mario more than life, She had said not to long ago that she had the Love of her life.. Chilling! The justice system failed in the past with Mario but now JUSTICE is what he will get.But we all need to remember that there are Familys and friends left to pick up the pieces and a Child that has lost her Father and her Stepmother. A child that will have to deal with this for the rest of her life. Mario loved her also, Thank GOD she was not in that house. Its okay to be Angry but deal with it knowing that the right will come in this And Grace will go on with all that truely loved her Forever in there Hearts. God Bless all the Familys and Friends that have lost on all sides. May she rest in peace.
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