Easttown Township Police Department

Please see below for press release regarding the fire that occurred in Easttown Township on July 23, 2024: NEWS RELEASE: WOMAN CHARGED WITH ARSON IN EASTTOWN TOWNSHIP The Chester County District Attorney’s Office and the Easttown Township Police Department announce the arrest of Kathryn Frankel, 41, of Berwyn, Pennsylvania, for intentionally setting fire to her residence in the Berwyn section of Easttown Township, Chester County. The Defendant has been charged with Arson, Criminal Mischief, and other related charges. Magisterial District Judge Mackenzie W. Smith arraigned the defendant on July 24, 2024, and set a cash bail of $25,000. The criminal complaint (the Defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt) filed by Easttown Township Detectives indicates that on July 23, 2024, at approximately 10:42 a.m., the Easttown Township Police Department and fire units responded to a house fire at the 400 Block of Leopard Road. Upon arrival, first responders observed smoke emanating from all three floors of the home. Kathryn Frankel was the only person present in the home at the time that fire started and was seen wandering around the property before emergency responders arrived. EMS personnel on scene told Detectives that when they first encountered the Defendant, she was covered in soot and her hair appeared to have been singed. A cigarette lighter was located in close proximity to the residence, and a K9 alerted to the presence of ignitable liquids on both the Defendant’s clothes and areas inside the residence. Assistant Fire Marshal Randall Patton responded to the scene to conduct an investigation while others worked to put out the fire. The Fire Marshal’s Office has since ruled the cause of the fire as incendiary—meaning intentionally set—with at least one point of origin. Authorities are also aware of a fire that occurred at the same house on May 1, 2024. The District Attorney’s Office, Fire Marshal, and the Easttown Township Police will review that prior fire investigation in light of this latest incident. The Easttown Township Police Department is the lead investigating agency. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (“ATF”) aided the investigation. Assistant District Attorneys Jessica Acito and Kaitlyn Michalek are the assigned prosecutors.