Relative of Wallingford family who died in fire speaks out about ravage of mental illness

SEATTLE — The family of a Wallingford mother killed in a house fire, along with two of her three children, said they lived with the ravages of mental illness.

Salvatore Ragusa is accused of murdering nearly his entire family last Saturday, then killing himself.

We found out Salvatore Ragusa completed a court-ordered mental health program 19 months ago.

Lana Stewart’s sisters said Ragusa suffered from schizophrenia, and that his family endured “lies, manipulation, uncertainty, and forced isolation.”

But he did get help through the King County court system. It seems, however, no one predicted this.

By her sisters’ account, Lana Stewart and her three children lived in a house of horrors long before last Saturday when Ragusa set it on fire.

“Yeah, family means everything to me,” Ragusa said. “And, yeah. We need to be kind to one another.”

That was 48-year-old Ragusa during a King County District Mental Health Court hearing in February 2022.

Three years earlier, Ragusa had set fire to the Queen Anne home where Lana was living. When Seattle police arrived, he was standing near the roof’s edge, a thick rope around his neck, threatening to jump.

He was taken into custody and agreed to go into a court-supervised mental health program.

According to court documents, District Court Judge Lisa Paglisotti presided over the so-called “graduation” hearing releasing Ragusa from his legal obligations. Those at the hearing even applauded Ragusa for his hard work with Valley Cities Behavioral Health.

Then Ragusa spoke.

“Yeah, it saved me,” he said of the program. “Saved my family. And, yeah, just going to keep moving forward and do the right things and prosper and stay safe, make healthy choices.”

But Lana’s family said it was she, a loving mother, who tried to keep the peace. It all sadly came to a fiery end last Saturday. Lana died from multiple sharp force injuries. Her two younger children, 7-year-old Sebastino and 4-month-old Valentina, died in the fire. Raguso took his own life, too. Only their 11-year-old daughter, Lulu, managed to escape.

It turns out the family dog, Rosie, died in the fire, too.

Lana’s sisters said Salvatore was a loving father until he fell into the grip of mental illness, and it was a slow spiral until it went out of control.

The couple, they said, never married.

A GoFundMe account has been created for the surviving daughter, 11-year-old Lulu.

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