Owners’ son sought in fatal house fire
One woman dead; police suspect arson
An 88-year-old Harvard, Idaho, woman died Wednesday of injuries in a fire Tuesday at her home in the small Latah County town. Sheriff’s investigators were searching for her son, 56-year-old Dallas Dale Strunk, a suspect in the blaze.
Strunk has a previous conviction for arson, according to court records.
The fire destroyed the home of Willard H. and Linda Strunk, both 88, who lived on Quartz Creek Road, sheriff’s spokeswoman Rhonda Bunney said.
Willard Strunk told firefighters he walked out of the back of the home about 7 p.m. Tuesday. When he returned a short time later, the porch was on fire and he couldn’t get the front door open.
Emergency crews transported Linda Strunk by ambulance to a Moscow hospital.
She was later flown to Seattle’s Harborview Medical Center, where she died at 10:55 a.m. Wednesday.
Dallas Strunk pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree arson after he was charged three years ago in connection with four fires determined to be arsons. One of those cases was allegedly an attempt to burn his parents’ home.
Dallas Strunk was most recently living in Moscow. He had been driving a silver 1987 Volvo with Idaho license plate IL87213.
He is 6-foot-1 and 200 pounds with brown hair and blue eyes, Bunney said.
Anyone with information about Dallas Strunk is asked to contact the Latah County Sheriff’s Office at (208) 882-2216.