Maine Man Pleads Guilty to Setting Fatal Fire

A Biddeford, Maine, man has pleaded guilty to setting a fire that claimed two lives there when he was 18 years old.

Dylan Collins pleaded guilty Tuesday in Superior Court in Alfred, Maine, to one count of arson and to two counts of felony murder. He’d previously been charged with two counts of depraved indifference murder, a more serious charge.

He’s due to be sentenced later this month.

Twenty-three-year-old Michael Moore died of smoke inhalation in the September 2014 fire. Twenty-year-old James Ford died a month later from complications.

Police say Collins acknowledged that he lit the fire to scare an ex-girlfriend and that the two men who died were “collateral damage.” They say he purchased a lighter and rubbing alcohol used to start the fire with cash to avoid having a record of the transaction.