Bremerton police are investigating a case of arson and vandalism they say was perpetrated against family friends of the teen arrested in connection with the killing 6-year-old Jenise Wright.
Chief Steven Strachan said police were called to a home in the 3300 block of Pine Street in East Bremerton at 1 a.m. Thursday, after one car had been set on fire and another vandalized.
Words left on the vandalized car indicated the acts were connected to the death of the girl, whose body was found in a muddy bog last week after she disappeared Aug. 2.
Jenise’s 17-year-old neighbor, Gabriel Z. Gaeta, was arrested Saturday, and is being held on investigation of first-degree murder, felony murder and first-degree rape of a child.
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Strachan said the victims of the arson and vandalism are friends of Gaeta’s mother.
Because the suspect and his brothers were well known in high school sports, many people are familiar with the teen and his family and have strong feelings about the case, said Strachan.
Strachan said, “I do think most people understand that this destruction of property is absolutely the wrong way to respond to their intense feelings about the case.”