SEATTLE — As a suspected serial arsonist sits behind bars, charged with setting four Seattle arsons, 38-year-old Matthew Daniel Hooper has also been linked to a fifth fire.
According to documents filed in King County Superior Court, Hooper told detectives with the Seattle Police Department that he set a fire at 222 Etruria Street --- just north of the Fremont Bridge -- which erupted in flames in late October.
Christopher Togawa’s business was destroyed that night.
Togawa, the owner of CTIC, told KIRO 7 he always suspected arson, especially after a number of nearby businesses went up in flames in late 2018.
However, the lifelong Seattle resident didn’t know the fire at his office was connected to Hooper until he received a call from an investigator Wednesday.
“He gave me a little bit of information that there was a DNA link and there was some video footage and there was a confession of sorts,” Togawa said Thursday.
Scroll down to continue reading
More news from KIRO 7
According to court documents, Hooper also allegedly confessed to setting fires at a nearby Elks Club at 3104 3rd Avenue, along a Ballard planting strip on Northwest 52nd Street, to an alley behind Ballard Avenue Northwest, and to setting the biggest fire in Seattle in eight years at Gascoigne Lumber.
Court documents also reveal Hooper has been living homeless in the Ballard area for months and has been arrested for 23-separate crimes.
He's currently behind bars in Whatcom County, on unrelated charges of burglary, theft and malicious mischief.
Rob Gascoigne, the owner of Gascoigne Lumberyard, told KIRO 7 he’s relieved a suspect in the fires has been identified and is off the streets.
“Thankful, I guess, comes to mind, because I was thinking, as long as he was still out there, I knew people’s lives were at risk,” Gascoigne said Wednesday.
Togawa still feels an element of fear. “There’s that unknown that still exists, that fear of what’s next? Who’s next? Is it over?”
Hooper has not been charged in connection with the fire at Togawa’s business. That case is still being investigated.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the King County Prosecutor’s Office said Hooper will be brought to face charges in Seattle “after Whatcom County is done with him.”