PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY, Va. (DC News Now) — The Office of the Commonwealth’s Attorney said that a man accused of killing a kitten in 2023, then setting an apartment building on fire weeks later, entered a guilty plea to charges he faced in connection to both.
The Prince William County Police Department (PWCPD) said it went to an apartment in the 14900 block of Potomac Heights Pl. on May 26, 2023 after officers received a call about a fight involving Frederick Pierce, who was 18 at the time, and a family member of the woman who called police. She told them that when she left the home in the Woodbridge area for work that morning, her 3-month-old Siamese/Maine Coon kitten, Misty, was in her room. The woman went on to say that when she came home that evening, she saw her bedroom door was open and that Misty was on the floor with his legs barely moving.
PWCPD said Pierce, whom the woman knew, admitted he hit the kitten with a shoe because Misty was “bad” and destroyed furniture. Pierce said Misty came into the room and kept bothering him, so he went into the hallway and hit Misty twice in the head with the shoe Pierce was wearing.
Misty died as a result.
Prosecutors said on or about June 14, 2023, a fire marshal lieutenant went to the same apartment in Potomac Heights Place after receiving a report that Pierce set two fires after he threatened to burn down the apartment.
A witness saw the fire at the foot of Pierce’s bed and put it out with the help of someone else. They locked Pierce out of the apartment, then heard smoke detectors in the hallway. The witnesses told investigators they saw smoke through the peephole of the apartment’s door. A neighbor, with the help of police, put out the second fire, which was started in the trash can in the apartment complex’s mailroom on the second floor.
After entering guilty pleas on Jan. 4, 2024, Pierce’s sentencing date was set for Apr. 25, 2024.
