ALTOONA, BLAIR COUNTY -- The father of little Darrel Etchison Jr. said he hopes the man accused of setting the fire at his South Second Street home, killing Etchison's 3-year-old son, gets the death penalty.  Etchison Sr. was at his wife's bed side at Mercy Hospital in Pittsburgh when he talked to WTAJ over the phone. 

"He loved his sisters and his brothers.  He loved Buzz Lightyear and Woody.  He was a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful kid.  He was awesome," Darrel Sr. said.

Brandy Etchison inhaled soot from the fire. It forced her to jump from an upstairs floor with her daughter.  Officials said Brandy desperately tried, but wasn't able to get to get little Darrel out of the house. She injured her spine when she jumped from a window to save herself and her two-year-old daughter, Madison. 

Etchison Sr. was on his way to work last Thursday when, police said, 62-year-old Aaron Dishong lit the fire at around 6 am.  Prosecutors said he was trying to kill his girlfriend, who he thought, was inside.  She wasn't.

Etchison Sr. asks for people to pray for his son.

"And I want the death penalty for that animal," Etchison said of Dishong.

Dishong is scheduled for a preliminary hearing in Central Court Wednesday.

The family is still finalizing funeral arrangements through Myers-Somers Funeral Home in Altoona.  A memorial fund is also in the process of being set up.