Prosecutors are seeking life without parole after three women died and an 18-year-old survived with serious burns.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — A 28-year-old Bloomington man accused of setting a January house fire that killed his grandmother, a caregiver and a bedridden woman with cerebral palsy is being held without bond as prosecutors press a murder and arson case.

Braydon Richard Blake’s case moved from a fire investigation into a life-without-parole prosecution after Paula Anderson, 53, died weeks after the Jan. 18 blaze. Mary Blake, 74, and Kristine Rowan, 33, were pulled from the home after the fire. Gabriella Anderson, 18, escaped with serious burns. Prosecutors later moved to amend the charges to three counts of murder, three counts of felony murder and one count of arson resulting in serious bodily injury.

The case began before dawn in the 3800 block of East Anderson Road, northeast of Bloomington, after Monroe County Central Dispatch received calls about a house fire with people trapped inside. Deputies and Monroe County Fire Protection District crews arrived shortly after 2:40 a.m. and found the home burning, with a vehicle driven into the attached garage. Investigators later identified the vehicle as a black Ford Edge registered to Blake. The sheriff’s office said firefighters entered the home as deputies worked to locate a person believed to be responsible. One injured woman was found outside, and another person was able to escape. Both were taken for medical care.

Firefighters found Mary Blake and Kristine Rowan inside the house. Rowan was pronounced dead at the scene. Mary Blake was taken to IU Health Bloomington Hospital and later died. Monroe County officials said both women died from thermal injuries and breathing in products of combustion, and their deaths were ruled homicides. Paula Anderson, a certified nursing assistant who was caring for Mary Blake and for Rowan, who was her daughter, suffered burns over much of her body. She died Feb. 4 at Eskenazi Hospital in Indianapolis. Gabriella Anderson, Paula Anderson’s younger daughter, was also treated at Eskenazi after suffering serious burns. Court filings and police accounts say the investigation remains active.

According to a probable cause affidavit described by local reports, a 911 call came from a phone tied to one of the victims. A woman could be heard saying someone was pouring gasoline around the house and using the words “kill me.” Another woman then told dispatchers the house was on fire and that one of the victims had identified Braydon Blake. The affidavit also says a badly burned victim told EMS workers that “Blake” poured gasoline on people and lit them on fire. Investigators found a plastic can near the dining area that contained liquid with an odor consistent with gasoline, along with another area near a recliner that also smelled like gasoline.

The charges also rest on what investigators say survivors and neighbors reported in the first hours after the fire. The affidavit says one victim told detectives Blake had threatened to burn down the house if she did not have sex with him. The same victim reported being sexually assaulted, according to the affidavit. Investigators have not publicly released a full motive, and police have not announced a separate sexual assault charge in the public accounts reviewed for this case. The claim remains part of the investigative record described in the affidavit. Officials have said the case involved multiple agencies, including the sheriff’s investigative division, Indiana State Fire Marshal’s Office, Monroe County Coroner’s Office, Bloomington police and Indiana State Police.

Deputies found Blake about an hour after the fire in a wooded area on the property. The affidavit says a tracking dog and drone were used during the search, and Blake was found about 250 yards behind the house with significant burn injuries. He was first taken to IU Health Bloomington Hospital, then transferred to Eskenazi Hospital in Indianapolis. The sheriff’s office said deputies stayed at Eskenazi for about a month to provide security while Blake was treated. The agency later said hospital staff moved deputies to a location where they no longer had direct visual security and agreed to notify the sheriff’s office when Blake was released.

That notification did not happen, according to the sheriff’s office. Blake was released from Eskenazi on April 1, and deputies said they did not learn he was free until April 9. U.S. marshals, Indiana State Police and Monroe County sheriff’s deputies found him the next day in Avon, west of Indianapolis. He was booked into the Monroe County Jail at 5:39 p.m. April 10. Eskenazi Hospital declined public comment to at least one Indianapolis station. The release gap has become a second issue in the case, separate from the arson investigation, because Blake had pending arrest warrants when he left hospital care.

At Blake’s initial hearing on April 13, prosecutors asked to amend the case to reflect Anderson’s death and to seek life without parole. A judge ordered Blake held without bond and appointed a public defender. His next court appearance is scheduled for May 20, and a jury trial has been tentatively set for Sept. 26. Blake has not been convicted of the charges. Court records reported by local outlets show earlier criminal cases over the past decade, including a 2018 burglary case, drug court participation, later program violations and re-entry court participation that ended after further violations. State prison records cited in local reporting say he was released from prison custody in summer 2024.

The victims’ family members have described a household built around care. Mary Blake had been ill with cancer, and Paula Anderson lived in the home while caring for her and for Rowan. Rowan lived with cerebral palsy and was bedridden, according to a family fundraiser described in news reports. Lindsey Pesonen, Anderson’s sister, wrote that the fire “took the lives of his own grandmother and my 33-year-old niece Kristine, who had lived with cerebral palsy and was bedridden.” She also wrote, “In a matter of moments, we lost our family member, and everything they owned was reduced to ashes.”

A neighbor who spoke to a Bloomington outlet after the fire described Anderson as focused on others even while badly injured. The neighbor said Anderson told people where others were in the house and called for her daughter. The same account described a chaotic porch scene where first responders treated one of the injured women. Those statements have not replaced the official findings, but they added a human record to the early emergency response. For investigators, the central questions now are the same ones prosecutors must prove in court: who set the fire, how it was set and whether the deaths and injuries meet Indiana’s standard for murder and felony murder.

Blake remained in the Monroe County Jail as of May 5. The next public milestone in the case is the May 20 court appearance, with the September trial date still listed as tentative.

Author note: Last updated May 5, 2026.