Vengeance for suspected infidelity led to murder-suicide attempt, police say

His plan was to die with his girlfriend and her child, investigators say. He allegedly set fire to their bedroom in an act of vengeance for her suspected infidelity.

Things did not go according to plan.

The woman told police he punched her several times in the face and pulled her 3-year-old son close to him in the flames. The mother and son escaped after she wrested the boy from his grasp.

And Mikelange St. Paul survived, too, despite burns over 85 percent of his body.

After weeks on the verge of death and months of painful recovery, the 41-year-old now appears bound for a criminal trial.

He was charged in June with two counts of assault with intent to murder for the fire last November in a basement apartment in Randolph. He is also charged with arson, aggravated assault and battery, and assault and battery on a child with serious bodily injury.

A hearing to determine whether St. Paul is allowed to post bail and be free before his trial was rescheduled today for July 15. Prosecutors argue that St. Paul remains a threat to the woman and her child and should be held without bail.

For months, St. Paul has undergone therapy at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Boston. He is under orders to remain in the hospital and is tracked with a GPS device, said David Traub, spokesman for the Norfolk County district attorney’s office.

The three-alarm fire Nov. 24 created a chaotic scene at the apartment building at 29 Reed St. in Randolph. Firefighters rescued tenants with ladders as flames and smoke poured from the basement apartment just before midnight. The building was condemned and its tenants forced to relocate.

Fire officials the next day said arson was suspected, but police filed no charges while St. Paul lingered in critical condition and appeared close to death.

Details of the case have come to light from a report Randolph police Detective Richard Lucey filed in court after hospital officials alerted him that St. Paul had begun to walk and was asking about making a day trip to see a friend.

In a subsequent interview, St. Paul told Lucey he had no recollection of the fire.

According to the report, St. Paul had been drinking heavily for two days and accused his 31-year-old girlfriend of having sex with someone she had met at a party.

The woman told police she overheard St. Paul on the phone that night telling relatives he was suicidal.

At one point, St. Paul handed her the phone. The voice was unfamiliar but the message was clear: “You need to get out of the apartment. Something is not right with him.”

St. Paul allegedly pressured her to have sex and insisted her son be left in the room. Afterward, he told her, “You will not have sex with anyone again after tonight,” according to the report.

Within moments, St. Paul returned to the room and the woman said she rolled over and saw flames rising from the bed.

According to the woman’s account, St. Paul lunged on top of her and began punching her repeatedly in the face. She broke free and wrestled for control of the child with St. Paul, who allegedly pulled the boy close to him in the flames before the woman won the struggle and fled with her son. The mother and son were treated for burns.

Firefighters rescued St. Paul and rushed him to Massachusetts General Hospital.

Pierre St. Paul, a cousin who grew up with Mikelange St. Paul in Haiti, confirmed for investigators that his cousin’s suspicions had filled him with jealousy. At the garage in Waltham where the cousins worked, a supervisor told Lucey she had seen Mikelange St. Paul take a 5-gallon gasoline container the day of the fire.

Another worker at the garage told the detective he had heard Mikelange St. Paul on a Dorchester radio station during a show about girlfriends and wives who cheat. The host, “DJ Nasty,” took calls from several men who said they would turn violent on an unfaithful woman. The DJ told Lucey the program was not recorded.

Police had responded to reports of domestic violence at the apartment before. In September, police arrested St. Paul after he allegedly cut the woman with a knife during an argument.

The Patriot Ledger