Opinion ID: 4271283
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Saad's Statements

Text: Law enforcement officials interviewed Saad six times, from the day of the fire through March 6, 2015, and Saad's version of events changed dramatically over that time. On the day of the fire, Saad told investigators that the DVR had been removed because it was broken and would not record. Saad also stated that he might have left [the basement door] open. He said he had closed - 6 - vents in the attic ducts, though an inspection revealed that that was untrue. Saad also stated that there was no reason why gasoline would be in the restaurant before the fire. In a December 9, 2014 interview, Saad stated that he had been at home when he was notified of the fire. Saad recanted that story on January 7, 2015, admitting that he had misled investigators. He said, instead of being home at the time of the fire, he had been with his estranged wife at her home in Webster, Massachusetts. According to Saad, he and his wife spent the night together and then went for a drive to smoke marijuana at 4:35 AM. He said he had dropped her off and was driving back to his home in Spencer when his manager called him about the fire. Saad said that he had lied to investigators about his whereabouts because his children would have been very angry at him for being with his estranged wife. Saad repeated this story when he was interviewed on January 13, 2015. Saad was interviewed again on March 6, 2015, this time on camera. Investigators confronted Saad with the evidence of gasoline in the pellet stove area and near the bar. Saad at first restated that he knew of no reason why gasoline would have been in the bar or pellet stove area. But he then changed his story, saying that he and others previously used gasoline to start the pellet stove and that he was unsurprised that there was gasoline near the stove. Saad downplayed this explanation when pressed by - 7 - investigators, saying he had only used a little bit of gasoline. When investigators told Saad that cell tower evidence showed he could not have been with his wife in Webster at the time of the fire, Saad stuck to his story that he had been with his wife. Saad's wife initially supported his alibi, but admitted before the grand jury that she had not been with Saad that night.