January 29, 2026 BRONX, NY — It started with a desperate plan to pawn a kitchen appliance. It ended with a 16-story high-rise turned into a blackened chimney, one man dead, and nearly 200 neighbors wandering the streets with nothing but the clothes on their backs.
Samuel Calderon, 55, was led out of the 47th Precinct in handcuffs Wednesday night, facing a sheet of charges that includes murder and manslaughter. But the details of what allegedly happened inside the Boston Secor Houses on January 24 are more haunting than any courtroom indictment.
The "Stolen Stove" Theory
According to investigators, Calderon didn't set out to kill Ronald McCallister, 60. He reportedly set out to feed a drug addiction.
Calderon, who had recently moved from the building into a shelter, allegedly snuck back into his former girlfriend's apartment at 3475 Bivona St. His target? A small, gas-powered stove he intended to sell for quick cash.
Sources say that when Calderon ripped the stove from the wall, he didn't bother to cap the line. The 15th-floor apartment began filling with invisible, highly combustible natural gas. Just after midnight, the building didn't just catch fire—it detonated.
A Midnight Massacre
The explosion ripped through the 15th and 16th floors, sending a shockwave that shattered windows and buckled doors. Within minutes, a four-alarm inferno was raging.
Firefighters battling the smoke made a grim discovery:
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Ronald McCallister, 60: Found unconscious in his home. He never regained consciousness and was pronounced dead at the scene.
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37-Year-Old Victim: Rushed to the hospital in critical condition with life-threatening injuries.
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The Survivors: 15 other residents were hospitalized, and a staggering 175 people—entire families—are now homeless after 16 apartments were gutted by flames or structural damage.
