Always helping others

As a fire burned his home, a former Greenwood man helped his children and his husband outside, making sure they were safe before him.

Jason Doan, a 1990 Greenwood Community High School graduate, always put his kids and family first, and his love for them showed in his actions that night, his husband Alan Marin said.

“He gave his life to save me and the boys,” Marin said.

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Doan, who died from injuries he suffered in the fire, is being remembered as kind and generous and as someone who always put others’ needs in front of his own, Marin said.

Even in death, Doan was able to help others as an organ donor with his liver and kidneys going to help three other people have a better chance at life, Marin said.

On Nov. 2, Doan and Marin woke up to smoke alarms around 11 p.m. With flames already coming up the stairs, Doan and Marin grabbed their kids and went into a bathroom. Marin went out through a bathroom window as Doan passed their 10-year-old and 11-month-old sons through the window and told them to get to somewhere safe, Marin said.

Doan stayed inside, wanting to get their three dogs to safety as well, Marin said. Firefighters got Doan out of the house when they arrived. He was taken to Eskenazi Hospital, where he later died.

The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department is investigating the fire as an arson, and 16-year-old Jordan Marin-Doan, one of the couple’s three children, has been charged as an adult with murder, arson and auto theft.

Marin declined to talk about Jordan or the investigation into the fire.

About a week before the fire, Jordan Marin-Doan had threatened to kill his adoptive parents, Marin and Doan, so that he could go to prison and get a cell next to his paternal father, according to the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department report.

On the night of the fire, the teen told detectives that he poured gas from a weed eater in the middle of the stairs and then lit it with a lighter. He then drove off in the couple’s vehicle that police later found in a hotel parking lot in Decatur, just south of Fort Wayne, the affidavit said.

Jordan Marin-Doan told police he had packed some pictures in a bag in the vehicle before setting the fire. After he set the fire, he got scared and regretted starting the fire and then left. He told police he wasn’t mad, and he didn’t know why he set the fire, the report said.

The fire severely damaged the home. For now, Marin, Alan and Max are staying with family members. A fundraising website was set up to help cover funeral expenses as well as support the family, and more than $10,000 has been raised so far.

Getting that support from the community has meant a lot, Marin said.

“I knew who Jason was and it shows from the people who were supporting me,” he said.

Doan first met Marin about four years ago through a mutual friend. They got married the first day gay marriage became legal in Indiana in 2014.

The couple adopted the three children nearly a year ago, Marin said. Doan owned a construction company and purchased, restored and sold homes. He always made sure to provide for his kids, Marin said.

“I knew he was the one right away because of the way he treated everyone,” Marin said.

“I never regretted the decision of marrying him.”