A suspected arsonist accused of murder for setting a fire that killed three men in a Bronx building was ordered held without bail at his arraignment Wednesday.
Daniel Santana, 43, wore a camouflage print hoodie as he pleaded not guilty before a Bronx Criminal Court judge. He was charged with three counts of murder, plus arson, and faces life in prison if convicted.
An attorney with Bronx Defenders assigned to Santana declined to comment outside court.
Messages left for Bronx Defenders seeking comment were not immediately returned.
The suspected arsonist turned himself in at the 40th Precinct stationhouse around 9:30 p.m. Monday, cops said.
Santana lives in the Castle Hill section of the Bronx and has six prior arrests, according to cops.
The May 6 blaze started around 5 a.m. and quickly engulfed El South Bronx Deli on Third Ave. near E. 140th St. in Mott Haven and the run-down apartment above it, authorities said.
Video recovered by authorities shows Santana setting the fire after spreading an accelerant, police sources say.
Two firefighters and an emergency medical technician were taken to the hospital with minor injuries suffered from battling the blaze, which took more than four hours to bring under control.
One of the victims was discovered once firefighters extinguished the fire, FDNY officials said. The two other bodies were found on Thursday and Friday in a section of the apartment where the ceiling had collapsed.
One victim was identified as 70-year-old Oreste de Leon. The other two men currently remain unidentified.
Tuesday evening, the Daily News spoke with de Leon’s nephew as he exited the family’s home in the Bronx.
“We don’t know who this guy is,” he said of the alleged arsonist. “We have no idea why (he did this).”
“My uncle was a good man. He didn’t deserve this.”
The building had been in de Leon’s family for generations, according to a relative of the victim.
“The building is gone. The deli is gone. And our family is left grieving the sudden loss of our family member. Losing him in such a tragic and violent way has left our family heartbroken and overwhelmed,” de Leon’s sister Orpha Rivera wrote on GoFundMe.
“This was not just a property — it was my grandmother’s childhood home, her late mother’s home, and a place filled with decades of memories, and history. It also housed the deli she rented out, which used to be my great grandmother’s and was recently renovated.”