Man attacks partner and sets apartment fire that kills 3 pets, OR officials say
A man accused of stabbing his partner in the head, neck and shoulder and starting a fire that destroyed their apartment building is heading to prison, Oregon officials said.
David James Kozak, 37, was sentenced to more than 20 years behind bars in connection with the 2023 incident, the Washington County District Attorney’s Office said in a May 2 news release. He also was ordered to pay over $719,000 in restitution, prosecutors said.
McClatchy News couldn’t immediately reach an attorney for Kozak on May 6.
Kozak and his partner got into a fight Feb. 22, 2023, and Kozak stabbed her multiple times, prosecutors said. The couple lived together in a Raleigh Hills area apartment, and the woman fled to a neighboring unit, according to prosecutors.
The neighbors summoned police, prosecutors said.
The woman reported that Kozak attacked her and that he “tried to light the apartment on fire,” prosecutors said.
Deputies who responded “saw the fire and attempted to extinguish it,” prosecutors said, but it “reignited and eventually destroyed the apartment building.”
The blaze killed three pet cats and displaced eight people, prosecutors said.
Kozak’s sentence came after he was found guilty in January of attempted murder in the second degree constituting domestic violence and assault in the first degree constituting domestic violence, plus three counts of first-degree arson, three counts of first-degree criminal mischief, three counts of first-degree animal abuse, and unlawful use of a weapon, prosecutors said.
Raleigh Hills is about a 6-mile drive southwest from Portland.
This story was originally published May 6, 2025 at 2:16 PM with the headline "Man attacks partner and sets apartment fire that kills 3 pets, OR officials say."
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