Woman faces murder charges after she set a fire that killed her father on the day their house was to be auctioned
A woman faces murder charges after police say she set a fire that killed her father on the day their house was to be auctioned.
Detectives learned that 53-year-old Donna Mladina used an accelerant to set the fire in the Bick Terrace home she shared with her father, 78-year-old Jakov Mladina, according to a release by Detective Jeffrey A. Holtz.
On January 5, 2026, Mladina was arrested on charges of murder, murder during the commission of arson and first-degree arson.
Her bail was set at $1.5 million and she was scheduled to be arraigned later in the day.
On September 20, 2025 around 1 a.m., police and firefighters responded to 911 calls reporting a fire in the 100 block of Bick Terrace in Bridgeport, Connecticut that day. A police sergeant arrived within minutes and got Donna Mladina out of the burning house, he said; her injuries were not considered life-threatening.
Firefighters pulled her father, Jakov Mladina, out of a back bedroom. He was unresponsive when he was taken to Bridgeport Hospital, where he was listed in critical condition until he died on September 25.
Investigators detected the odor of a flammable liquid and found surveillance video that appeared to show Donna Mladina removing valuables from the house before she was pulled to safety.
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner ruled that Jakov Mladina’s death was a homicide.
