The Associated Press

VANCOUVER, Wash. — A retired fire lieutenant, jailed for investigation of first-degree murder in the bloody death of his mother, was once honored for saving two children from a fire in neighboring Portland, Ore.

David F. Gaul, 55, struggling with the aftermath of a later injury, alcohol abuse, stress-related disability, suicidal thoughts and driving violations, had been out of jail less than a week before his mother, Junette M. Gaul, 90, was found strangled and beaten in the head and chest at her home in suburban Hazel Dell, records show.

On Wednesday, Junette Gaul had gone to seek an anti-harassment order against her son in Clark County District Court but missed an 11 a.m. deadline for her petition to be heard the same day and was told to return for a hearing at 1 p.m. Thursday.

A court commissioner could have heard the case immediately had the woman or the female relative who accompanied her said there was an emergency or that she feared for her immediate safety, said Cheryl A. Dorsey, a court records and archive specialist. Neither did so, Dorsey said.

A friend checking on Junette Gaul later Wednesday found her bloody body on the floor of the house beside her son, who was spattered with blood and so intoxicated he could barely stand when authorities were summoned at 4:45 p.m., sheriff's Sgt. Timothy L. Bieber said.

After being taken to a hospital to sober up, Gaul made an initial appearance Thursday in Superior Court. Bail was set at $750,000, and he remained in custody for investigation of first-degree murder pending arraignment Jan. 11.

Gaul, hired as a firefighter in Portland in 1977, has traced many of his problems to the aftermath of a fire in which he and two others rescued two children from a house basement in December 1991, getting out just as the building blew up. The next year he was presented a Portland Fire Bureau's medal of honor for "courage and skill."

In an interview in 2005 with The Oregonian for an article on Portland's Fire and Police Disability and Retirement Fund, he said he never received counseling after the dramatic rescue.

He told the newspaper he filed disability claims in 2003 for a hip injury and in 2004 for post traumatic stress disorder. Doctors agreed that his drinking problem was a symptom of trying to repress bad on-the-job situations.

Gaul said he was seeing a psychiatrist, attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, "trying to stay sober" and collecting monthly disability payments while off work until the fund began withholding the checks.

"I spent 29 years fighting fires," he said. "Now I need help and they turn their back on me."

Fund officials said the checks were stopped because he missed doctor appointments.

Last year, he served nine months in jail on three drunken driving warrants in Multnomah County, which includes Portland. He retired from the Fire Bureau on March 25, 2007, the day he was booked into custody.

Court documents said a relative told investigators that after Gaul was released from jail on Dec. 27, his mother began sleeping in her car in a supermarket parking lot near her home, then stayed briefly with daughters in Longview and Ridgefield because she was afraid of him and his demands for money that he believed she and other relatives had stolen from him while he was in custody.

In her statement seeking the anti-harassment order, his mother wrote that he "can be a very frightening figure and uncontrollable if he were to drink."

After being arrested, Gaul told detectives he had not seen his mother Wednesday, adding that she had been avoiding her home and that he had been staying there since his release from jail.

In an affidavit filed in court, sheriff's Detective Kevin L. Harper wrote, "David said he did not know whose blood was on his face or hands."