‘He wasn’t himself,’ says family about man charged with arson that killed two relatives

A West End family who’s grappling with a house fire that killed two relatives says the man charged with setting the blaze — another family member — had been spiralling for months before the weekend tragedy.

Relatives say 30-year-old Douglas Wayne Jr. Nattaway had been coping with a turbulent year marked by the suicide of his wife and separation from his children.

Nattaway is charged with two counts each of second-degree murder and arson with disregard for human life in relation to the deaths of his sister and great aunt in the blaze at their rental home on Agnes Street Saturday.

Tyana Nattaway, 18, and Crystal Loonfoot, 48, were found critically injured on the second floor and later pronounced dead in hospital.

His family said Thursday they hope he receives the help he needs.

“His eyes changed, they changed colours,” Shayla Nattaway said in a crowded hotel room where the family has been staying on Notre Dame Avenue. “His eyes had turned black. His voice changed, too. I didn’t recognize the voices. He wasn’t himself.”

Jane Flett, Douglas’s grandmother, who sat on the side of the bed, arms still heavily bruised from having to be pulled out of a window to escape from the flames, said Nattaway was easygoing before his wife died early last year.

“We just want him to get help,” Flett said. “We’re just hurting so much. I lost my sister and my granddaughter. Now my grandson is incarcerated. It’s so hard.”

Shayla added: “Something was controlling him. He would never hurt my sister because he loves her.” She said her brother had been keeping a diary of sorts in the months before the fire, but it was destroyed along with the home and their possessions.

Flett said the family, originally from Garden Hill First Nation, had no insurance. She is still without her oxygen machine and tank, and the urn containing her daughter’s ashes was destroyed. Over the years, she said, three of her children, two sons and a daughter, have died.

The Red Cross provided initial assistance, and the family has since been receiving support from their First Nation.

“We don’t know what comes next,” Flett said. “I don’t know what else to say.”

Nineteen people, including a one-year-old boy and a three-year-old girl, were in the house at 365 Agnes St., just north of St. Matthews Avenue, when the fire broke out around 9:30 a.m. Saturday.

Investigators said the fire was started shortly after the accused became involved in a dispute. At a news conference earlier this week, police said they believed the altercation was with family members in the home.

Winnipeg Police Service Const. Claude Chancy said the accused left the house and used an “incendiary device” to set the wooden front porch on fire.

Shayla, however, said the altercation was not with a family member, but with a woman she did not know.

“She wasn’t living there, she was just visiting, I guess,” Shayla said. “I don’t even know where that girl is.”

Shayla said Tyana’s quick action saved lives.

“She helped everybody get out,” Shayla said. “She has a big heart. She went back upstairs. Nobody knew there was someone sleeping under the table. I guess she went and tried to wake her, but she wouldn’t wake up.”

Flett, who had been asleep when the fire started, said she was later told someone had been knocking on the door but no one answered.

“Someone told me they heard (Douglas) say, ‘They hate me, that’s why they won’t open the door,’” she said. “But everyone was sleeping.”

Court records show Douglas had been facing several court order breaches from 2025. He was charged in a 2018 arson in Garden Hill, but those charges were stayed later that same year.

“That was just a vacant building,” Shayla said.

She said she hopes her brother can see his kids soon. “Maybe that will wake him up.”

The family said they have conflicted feelings; they are angry about the deaths of Tyana and Crystal, but want Douglas to find peace.

“Once he gets help, I’ll forgive him,” Shayla said.

scott.billeck@freepress.mb.ca