Family, friends and strangers gathered in Altoona Sunday night to remember a 3-year-old boy tragically killed when his family's home when up in flames. People who knew Darrel Etchison, Jr. said he'll be remembered for his bright, flashy smile. He died Thursday when police said Aaron Dishong set his family's home along South Second Street on fire, thinking his ex-lover was inside.

Dishong was arrested less than 24 hours later and remains in jail. But 6 News has uncovered more about his past. Court documents suggest he's lived a life filled with violence.
Court records obtained by 6 News show two people filed protection from abuse orders against him this year, including the ex-girlfriend police said he tried to kill and his own son.

Dishong's son's complaint read, "He has problems getting revenge on people. He has burned down his ex-girlfriend's house and I don't want him doing it to me."

On Monday, 6 News reporter Maria Miller tracked down a woman who said she used to date Dishong and said she believes he set her home on fire too.

"That woman said me she hasn't slept through a whole night in more than a year because Aaron Dishong would look through her windows to see what she was doing," said Dishong's ex-girlfriend. 6 News is not revealing her name because, eventhough Dishong is behind bars in Blair County, she said she still doesn't trust him.

"He just made you feel very insecure no matter what he done," said the woman.

She said she lived with Dishong in a Vintondale apartment for about nine months before he became controlling.

"I wasn't doing nothing but he'd text and he'd call," she said. "He wouldn't leave me alone for five minutes."

She said it was only a few days after she broke up with him that her apartment complex went up in flames. Four families who lived inside lost everything. Authorities thought it may have been an electrical fire but she thinks differently.

"I didn't believe it the way the fire burnt because there was stuff in my closet that should have still been there. There was nothing left in my closet," said the woman. "I still say he took everything out of it."

When asked why she never went to police, she said she was too scared because "he worked with your mind."

Her communication with Dishong dwindled until he contacted her last week -- more specifically, the day police said he set the fire to the duplex in Altoona.

"On Thursday he contacted me and I told him to leave me alone (because) I'm happily married. He said, 'I'll get even with that (explecative,)' and I said, 'I don't want  to be bothered,'" she said. "I told him point blank, 'you're gonna get yourself in trouble by the way you talk.'"

After she saw Dishong on the news and heard what he did last week, she said her heart dropped.

"If I wasn't so scared of him I could have maybe prevented that little boy from dying by going to the cops."

Dishong was arrested less than 24 hours after flames broke out last week. Now that he's behind bars his ex-girlfriend said she hopes police will take another look at last year's fire in Vintondale. 6 News reached out to state police on Monday but did not receive a reply by news time.