WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A judge on Monday found a West Palm Beach man not guilty by reason of insanity of starting a fire in 2019 that later killed his grandmother.
Circuit Court Judge Cymonie Rowe committed Trevonte Adderly to a state Department of Children and Families mental health facility during a non-jury trial held via Zoom. A status hearing is scheduled for 1 p.m. Sept. 4. He has been in the Palm Beach County jail.
West Palm Beach police said Adderly was 26 when he attacked his grandmother, Delores Allen, 69, before setting fire to her home on July 5, 2019.
Originally, the U.S. Marshals Task Force arrested Adderly in Riviera Beach and he was charged with attempted first-degree murder, first-degree arson and cruelty to animals. When his grandmother died in August 2019, the one charge was upgraded to first-degree murder.
“It definitely is a tough situation,” said his brother, Travon Marq Adderly, a U.S. Naval officer stationed in Saudi Arabia at the time of the fire.
“My brother, who deals with mental illness. He hurt my grandmother."
The grandfather, Emanuel, who wasn’t home at the time, was living in a hotel with the family’s dog after the incident.
The three brothers were raised by their grandparents after witnessing their father kill their mother in 1997.
