‘An evil, very brutal thing.’ Teen sentenced after nearly killing elderly Pasco couple

The fire that destroyed an elderly Pasco couple’s home nearly a year ago ravaged a lifetime of memories and nearly took their lives.

For Ernesto Parra, who pulled his wife Lillian to safety, those moments were worse than anything he’s experienced during his time in the Korean War.

Lillian Parra suffered months of painful burn treatments, along with the humiliation of not being able to care for herself while she recovered.

On Thursday, they spoke in a Franklin County court about their harrowing experience before their former neighbor, Landon Keene, 18, was sentenced to 12 years in prison.

Keene, who previously pleaded guilty to first-degree arson and two counts of second-degree assault, declined to talk at the hearing.

“That is disappointing that you don’t have anything to say to this family after being rendered homeless and traumatized,” Judge Diana Ruff told him.

“Why you targeted this couple, these most innocent of victims, you haven’t explained to me. No one’s explained to me, so I can only guess at what led you to do such a horrendous thing to this extremely vulnerable couple,” she said.

The teen would normally have faced a sentence of up to 4 1/2 years for arson, but Prosecutor Shawn Sant said the law didn’t take into account Keene’s full actions.

That led to an agreement to recommend more time.

Ruff said it was only Keene’s young age that kept her from adding more to the sentence, which will be considered an “exceptional” term under Washington state law.

“I hope that while you’re in prison, you can start to fully grasp the absolutely horrendous thing that you did to this family,” Ruff said. “These victims are just absolutely beyond innocent.”

Ruff also signed off on orders that will prevent him from going within 1,500 feet of any of their family members when he’s released.

A restitution hearing is expected to be scheduled at a later time. Sant explained it’s likely to be a substantial amount to cover the damage and medical expenses.

Early morning arson fire

Court documents don’t explain why Keene targeted the couple who were in their late 80s.

The former Pasco School District employees bought the home in the 1990s, and Keene lived about seven homes away. He had history of lashing out and threatening his family and even stabbed the family dog, court documents show.

Investigators found graffiti on a nearby home that mentioned the Parras.

Video showed him set a fire outside of their house, and when the fire didn’t grow, he returned with an accelerant and started a second fire, court documents said.

Lillian Parra told the judge that noise from the fire woke her up and her husband went to investigate.

“When I got downstairs, I could not unbuckle myself (from a stairway chairlift),” she said. “But I could see the smoke and flame was just getting closer. Finally, my husband was able to pull me out, but I was so tired. I didn’t want to go any faster. I didn’t want to move.”

Ernesto helped her get out but she was burned in the process. A doctor would later tell her that she likely couldn’t survive her injuries.

After almost four weeks in a hospital, they returned to Pasco and to the reality that they’d lost all their clothes and most other items.

“It was an evil, very brutal thing to burn the house up. ... Now, all I can say is that we are homeless,” Lillian told the judge. “ ... But I can tell you that my family has been so protective and so good.”

She credited her faith in God for helping her through the emotional and financially-draining months of treatments and rebuilding of their lives that followed.

More questions than answers

Keene’s attorney Peyman Younesi said he had spent a long time working with his client to get him to understand the effect of his crime. He felt that Keene knew what he did and was ready to accept responsibility.

The teen did not want to put the family through a trial, Younesi said.

“We were happy that we were able to come up with this resolution,” he said. “I have more questions than I have answers. ... Hopefully, he can start the healing process.”