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Father arrested weeks before deadly blaze

Police believe he later set fire that killed five of his children

By Bob Albrecht, Ray Legendre
Published: April 28, 2011, 12:00am
3 Photos
Angelina Belous, 8, reflects on a memorial Wednesday outside the home where six people died in an Easter morning fire.
Angelina Belous, 8, reflects on a memorial Wednesday outside the home where six people died in an Easter morning fire. Belous attended class with one of the five children killed in the blaze. Photo Gallery

On the day police revealed a Vancouver father intentionally set the fire that killed him and his five children, disturbing new details surfaced about a violent outburst that led his wife to seek a restraining order weeks earlier.

Tuan Dao, 37, allegedly threw a clothes iron, a packed duffle bag and a water bottle at his wife, Lori Dao, during a March 29 argument inside their home at 15304 N.E. 13th Circle, according to a police report. Officers arrested Tuan Dao on suspicion of assault and reckless endangerment. A judge subsequently ordered him to stay at least 500 feet away from his wife.

That alleged domestic violence episode, lingering financial troubles and a failing marriage all combined to set the stage for Tuan Dao’s unfathomable actions Easter morning, authorities said.

Investigators believe Dao used liquid fuel early Sunday morning to start the blaze that left his family in ruins and a community in shock.

“The investigation to this point has identified only Tuan Dao as the possible suspect in this incident,” the Vancouver Police Department said in a release Wednesday. “There is no information at this time that there are other outstanding suspects.”

On Wednesday, authorities identified the deceased as Dao; Nolan A. Dao, 12; Noah A. Dao, 9; Jacob A. Dao, 9; Samantha A. Dao, 8; and Nathan A. Dao, 6. Dental records are being used to confirm the identities of Dao and the five children.

All six bodies suffered fire-induced skull fractures, indicating that they died from exposure to the sudden inferno.

Lori Dao, 33, and oldest daughter, Alena, 13, moved to another address before the fire. They are the only surviving members of the immediate family.

Family members of Lori Dao declined comment and asked for privacy when reached by phone Wednesday morning. Tuan Dao’s family declined comment after answering the door Wednesday afternoon.

Most of the couple’s neighbors did not encounter them often, except when they brought their children to the bus stop. The couple was always on the go, taking their children to and from soccer practice and karate lessons, neighbors said.

Court papers showed Tuan Dao worked at FedEx in Portland and Lori Dao worked for U.S. Bank in Vancouver. A FedEx official declined to comment Wednesday.

Revelations of the hard-working couple’s ongoing economic woes stunned their neighbors.

The Daos filed for bankruptcy in September 2010 with $158,000 in credit card, collections and gambling debt, according to court records. They owed $262,000 on the home that burned — $83,000 more than its worth — and another house they once owned had been foreclosed last July.

They separated in the past month, family friends said. Neither had filed for divorce, according to court papers.

A police report released Wednesday offered a window into Tuan Dao’s growing rage amid his dissolving relationship with his wife.

Officers responded to the family’s home in the early hours of March 30 after one of the children reported her father “cussing and screaming” at her mother.

Lori Dao told investigators she and her husband had fought about marital problems, according to the report. After heaving a packed duffel bag at her, he next picked up a clothes iron and hurled it at the bed where she sat with one of their children.

The iron missed Lori Dao, but the cord struck the child in the head, according to the report. The mother also told police her husband grabbed her by her forearms when she tried to calm him.

Tuan Dao was arrested on suspicion of two counts of fourth-degree assault domestic violence and one count of reckless endangerment. Vancouver Assistant City Attorney Patrick Robinson said those charges will likely be dropped once it’s confirmed Dao is deceased. One of the couple’s children told police their parents had fought before, but their father had never been violent.

“None of us would have had any idea that was going on behind the scenes,” neighbor Kathy Larsen said.

On Wednesday, Larsen and others on Northeast 13th Circle oscillated between sadness over the loss of the children and anger toward their alleged killer. They also felt empathy for the children’s mother.

Larsen noted her fellow residents felt a collective sorrow when police first announced Sunday that six people died. But Wednesday’s announcement on who died and how they died made the situation even more disheartening.

“It was tragic to begin with,” she said. “To learn it wasn’t accidental makes it a different type of tragedy.”

Jon Himes called the children “casualties” of their father’s anger and spite.

“It’s one thing to do to yourself, but another thing to take a child’s life,” he said. “And to take your own child’s life? It’s tragic. It’s heartbreaking.”

Himes, who has a young daughter and stepson, described Tuan Dao’s actions as “unspeakable.”

The presence of flowers, balloons and stuffed animals along a chain-link fence outside the destroyed house served as an outward show of the community’s grief Wednesday afternoon. The makeshift memorial had grown significantly since it emerged Tuesday.

On a pink balloon the words “You’re in the angels arms” was written. A nearby card expressed a similar sentiment. “My heart aches for all of you,” wrote Daveen McCarthy, a “heart-sick grandma” who did not know the family.

The display also left an impression on others who knew the children.

Angelina Belous, 8, attended third-grade classes with Samantha Dao at Harmony Elementary in Vancouver. She placed an unopened chocolate bar at the foot of the memorial. “She was nice to me,” Belous said of her deceased classmate.

The Evergreen School District made grief counselors available Monday and Tuesday at three schools where the Dao children attended. The counselors were on standby Wednesday and will continue to be, spokeswoman Carol Fenstermacher said.

“Obviously, the school community is trying to get their arms around this,” she said.

Donation accounts at U.S. Bank and First Independent Bank have been set up to assist Lori Dao and Alena. Contributions to “The Dao Family Donation” account can be made at any U.S. Bank branch. Ask at any First Independent Bank branch for information on how to contribute to the account set up for the Daos.

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