Mother Out of Coma, Dad Wants Death Penalty for Alleged Arsonist

ALTOONA, BLAIR COUNTY -- Darrel Etchison Sr. is at his wife's hospital bedside at UPMC Mercy in Pittsburgh.  He has the unimaginable job of caring for her while mourning the death of his 3-year-old son, who died in an arson Thursday.  Brandy Etchison is out of a medically-induced coma.  Her husband expects she will leave the hospital this week.  He appreciates the community support his family is receiving.

"I want them to pray for my son and I want the death penalty for that animal," Etchison Sr. said. 

He's referring to 62-year-old Aaron Dishong.  Police saif Dishong set a fire at the 113 S. Second Street because he thought his ex-girlfriend was inside.  The two had a hearing later that morning on a protection for abuse order she filed against him.  She wasn't in the home.  The fire killed little Darrel Etchison Jr. as his mother tried desperately to save him.  Etchison Sr. fondly reminicsed about the little boy.

"He was on a trip without luggage.  He was into everything.  He loved his sisters and his brothers," Etchison Sr. said.

Etchison's wife Brandy had soot in her lungs and injured her spine when she jumped from the window of the burning house, holding the couple's 2-year-old daughter.

"When she landed so my daughter wouldnt get hurt , she landed on her butt so she could take all the impact.  So my baby wouldn't get hurt (Madison)," said Etchison Sr.

Prosecutors called her a hero.  She was able to save one child while her home was engulfed in flames and tried to desperately to save the other.  Darrel Sr was on his way to work.


"As I'm pulling in, she called me screaming.  I just turned around and floored it all the way home," he said.

Little Darrel died at the hospital. 

"He was beautiful, beautiful, beautiful kid.  He was awesome," he said. 

The Myers-Somers Funeral Home in Altoona will handle a service once the little boy's mother is well enough to attend. A memorial fund is also being set up.