BAR HARBOR (AP) – A New Hampshire man suspected of stabbing his girlfriend with an ice pick was in serious condition Friday at a Bangor hospital with injuries suffered in a cottage fire that he deliberately set, authorities said.

Police tracked Dennis Freda, 47, of Center Ossipee, to the 188-year-old cottage owned by his girlfriend’s family and found it engulfed in flames with Freda inside, according to investigators.

Firefighters found Freda unconscious on the second floor. He was transported to an Ellsworth hospital and then transferred to Eastern Maine Medical Center, where he was being treated for smoke inhalation.

The Maine fire marshal’s office determined that gasoline had been poured throughout the cottage on Hadley Point Road and then set ablaze. Officials say there was significant fire damage to the second floor and smoke and water damage on the first floor.

The stabbing took place earlier Thursday in Bartlett, N.H., and the 42-year-old girlfriend was treated at a hospital, according to Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety. There was no immediate word on her condition.

Because the stabbing was being treated as a domestic violence case, McCausland did not release the woman’s name but said she was from North Conway, N.H.

Investigators said the wood-frame cottage built on a stone foundation on Hadley Point Road is owned by a family named Stearns.

“This is one more example of domestic violence, which knows no geographic or socio-economic boundary,” said Maine Public Safety Commissioner Michael Cantara. “We are hopeful the victim has a full and speedy recovery.”

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