WINDHAM – New details have emerged in the case of the arson that destroyed an apartment house next to Corsetti’s Market on Gray Road in Windham last Friday afternoon, but many questions remain.

According to state fire marshal Joe Thomas, Donato Corsetti, the longtime owner of the apartment building, was bound with duct tape when an employee of the variety store saw Corsetti inside the building as the fire was developing.

Thomas would not release details on how Corsetti became bound in duct tape. He said investigators are interviewing numerous witnesses and those associated with the building.

Thomas said the fire began in the middle unit of the three-unit apartment building when the building was occupied by Corsetti as well as by three tenants of an adjacent unit, including a baby.

Thomas said the fire was an arson but investigators still need to determine whether the fire was set intentionally or accidentally.

The information regarding duct tape was part of the initial 911 call, Thomas said.

“That’s the information we got here in the office when the call came in,” Thomas said. “Some type of duct tape was on him.”

Thomas explained “one of the female staff in [Corsetti’s] store had heard some type of a commotion and looked out and that’s when she saw Mr. Corsetti coming and going or going up and down, or something to that effect, in the window, which we assume to be the door [to the middle unit of the apartment building]. So she thought he might be having some type of a medical emergency or something and then obviously went over to investigate and see what she could find and that’s when she found him and also realized the unit was on fire.”

Thomas said there wasn’t a lot of smoke at the time when the employee came to Corsetti’s rescue. He said answers to what transpired in the empty apartment could take a while.

“We’ve got so many interviews to do on this to put the pieces together, we’ll probably be another week or so,” Thomas said.

Thomas said fire investigators still need to determine “whether the fire was accidental or an intended criminal action. What’s the nature of it?”

Thomas also said the investigation will delve into the financial history of the apartment building, which was foreclosed upon Nov. 17 by Green Tree Servicing, an Illinois mortgage company. A final auction, according to press reports, took place the day before the arson occurred.

“The opportunities for interviews seem to be compounding as we go along here,” Thomas said of the foreclosure process’s impact on the investigation.

Thomas said no suspects are being pursued at this time.

“We just don’t know which direction to go in until we get a sense of what actually presents itself by interviewing people,” Thomas said. “It could be sinister in nature or it could be something [Corsetti] got tangled up in trying to get out. Who knows?”