The King County Medical Examiner's Office on Tuesday identified a 48-year-old man who was found dead after a house fire in Wallingford last weekend, but it has not yet released the names of a woman and two children whose bodies also were found in the home.
Salvatore Ragusa died from smoke inhalation and his death was ruled a suicide, according to the medical examiner. No information was released on the cause and manner of death for the woman, child and infant who also died.
Court records show Ragusa had struggled with mental illness and spent years navigating the county's criminal justice and mental health systems, beginning with a threat of suicide in 2019.
Just before 9 a.m. Saturday, an 11-year-old girl escaped the house in the 1000 block of North 48th Street through a window and fled to a neighbor's. Someone called 911 and reported a person had died in the home that was quickly engulfed in flames.
Seattle police tried to force their way into the residence but found the door had been barricaded from inside. Fire crews battled the blaze for 45 minutes before finding the bodies of four people and a dog.
Initial reports indicated someone may have fired a gun around the time the fire started, but police haven't confirmed whether there was a shooting or if officers found guns inside the North Seattle house, located two blocks south of Woodland Park.
Police have not released any additional information about the investigation.
In April 2019, Ragusa set fire to his ex-wife's apartment in Queen Anne, according to Seattle police. Smoke and water from the sprinkler system had poured out of the building's second-floor balcony, forcing more than 100 people to evacuate the six-story building.
Based on information released Tuesday, it's unclear if the ex-wife identified in court records is a victim of Saturday's fire.
During the 2019 fire, Ragusa publicly made threats of suicide, leading to an hourslong police negotiation, according to court records. At the time, he wore a T-shirt with the phrase "I have PTSD" scrawled on the back, police said.
A Seattle Fire Department investigator found that a pile of miscellaneous objects on the kitchen counter was set on fire either by a handheld flame or with a hot plate, according to court records. The damage to the unit cost $6,500, the fire department reported.
The smoke detector had been removed and the sprinklers had been covered with tape, the police report noted.
Ragusa was accused of starting the 2019 fire and was charged with assault, domestic violence and three types of first-degree arson. The court issued a no-contact order that barred Ragusa from getting in touch with his ex-wife.
A few months later, while still facing charges, Ragusa was admitted to Fairfax Behavioral Health, the state's largest private psychiatric facility, for a voluntary stay after he described experiencing "paranoid delusions and grandiose beliefs," according to King County District Court records. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia, the records show.
Ragusa's criminal case was referred to the county's Regional Mental Health Court, which offers therapeutic support to people accused of crimes and experiencing mental health challenges. He opted into the court system in February 2020, when he also pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of second-degree reckless burning and malicious mischief.
He was placed on probation for two years and routinely attended therapeutic court hearings, according to district court records. The court connected Ragusa with a therapist, psychiatrist and peer counselor through Valley Cities Counseling, a mental health treatment center in Kent. He also was placed on medication, court records show.
In April 2021, two years after the fire, Ragusa asked Valley Cities for couples counseling, his probation officer wrote in a report. Ragusa wanted to lift the no-contact order that barred him from contacting his ex-wife "because he would like to live with" her, the report says. The probation office noted "concerns" about Ragusa living with his ex-wife, but it deferred the decision to lift the no-contact order to the court, a probation report reads. The court recalled the no-contact order the next month.
Ragusa completed the mental health court program on February 20, 2022, ending his mandated court monitoring, records show.
It isn't clear whether Ragusa continued treatment after completing the program.
Since Saturday, authorities have answered very few of the many questions circling the deadly blaze, leaving neighbors to wonder what happened.
People who live nearby said they had mostly friendly, if few, interactions with the family who moved into the neighborhood a couple years ago. They saw the children playing in the yard, often accompanied by their dog. And both parents frequently worked in the yard.
John Zitkovich, 81, lives next door to the burned down house.
"I visited with the family fairly often, across the fence," he said. "It's an emotional loss for me."
According to the neighbor, Ragusa had a habit of locking doors, claimed to have cameras on all four sides of the house and said he carried a firearm at all times.
Zitkovich noticed that Ragusa "seemed to be suspicious of people and of being attacked."
One time, about a year ago, "he was shaking a tree for a long time," saying someone was after him, Zitkovich said. "I thought, 'Wow, something is going on in his mind.'"
Bill Donahue said he became friendly with Ragusa because they both drove Mercedes-Benz cars.
"He was a big man. Could be kind of imposing," Donahue said. "He was always interested in how my car was running, check on it, look under the hood, change some fluids, give it some WD-40, actually fix the issue. Never took any money."
He recalled that Ragusa broke an arm falling off a roof while cleaning the gutters. Then he was in a crash.
"That left him with internal injuries," Donahue said. "He had to have surgery on his stomach and it was a difficult recovery."
The two men exchanged cellphone numbers. They sent their last texts to each other on July 6. Donahue asked how Ragusa was feeling.
Ragusa answered, "Feeling lots better. Thanks for reaching out."
