Freedom — February 8, 2007 — The fire that destroyed the vacant home of jailed double murder suspect Sean Fitzpatrick Monday night has been declared arson, authorities announced Wednesday.

“New Hampshire State Fire Marshal J. William Degnan, Freedom Police Chief Joshua Shackford, and Freedom Fire Chief Gene Doe announced the results of a fire investigation at 66 Intervale Avenue, Freedom,” the fire marshal’s office reported Wednesday.

Freedom Police and the state fire marshal’s office, in a joint investigation started on the still-smoldering wreckage Tuesday morning, found traces of an incendiary device they believe sparked the blaze that destroyed the house.

A suspect has not yet been named.

Fitzpatrick has been in a Massachusetts jail facing charges he fatally shot his neighbor from the private community on Ossipee Lake, Michael Zammitti Jr., and another man, Chester Roberts, in a Wakefield, Mass. concrete firm last March.

Authorities say he killed the 39-year-old Zammitti to ease into an affair with Zammitti’s wife; the affair reportedly never materialized.

Zammitti’s parents own a large, brick-faced vacation home steps away from the charred foundation of the house owned by the man accused of killing their son. Fitzpatrick sold property on the street to the family in 1993, county records show.

Investigators from the fire marshal’s office used hydrocarbon sniffing dogs trained to detect gasoline.

The fire, which razed the two-story, wood-framed house, was reported at 6:37 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 5, and the “bulk of the fire was knocked down at about 7:19 p.m.,” the fire marshal’s office reported.

Authorities urged citizens to report suspicious fires to the fire marshal’s arson hot line at 800-400-3526; or call Freedom Police at 539-6323.