A 14-year-old Hutchinson boy was charged Friday with two counts of first-degree murder for a suspicious house fire that killed his mother and 11-year-old sister.
Reno County District Attorney Keith Schroeder charged the boy as a juvenile but said he will seek to try him as an adult on the murder charges and a charge of the attempted murder of his father, who escaped the blaze without injury.
Authorities had initially said the boy also escaped the fire that engulfed the two-story house early Thursday. But Schroeder told The Wichita Eagle ( http://bit.ly/16GrVoC) the youth was not at the scene when firefighters arrived but returned to the house several hours later.
Investigators had suspected arson, and Schroeder said an accelerant had been poured in several first-floor rooms.
The mother and sister were found together in an upstairs bedroom and died later at separate hospitals.
Schroeder said the murder charges qualified as first degree because the crimes were either “premeditated or occurred during the commission of an inherently dangerous felony.”
The teen is being held in the Reno County Youth Detention facility and is expected to make his first court appearance Monday.
Schroeder said the hearing will probably be closed to the public under state law because the boy is being charged as a juvenile.
Schroeder also said he could not comment on a possible motive.
The Hutchinson Fire Department was joined in the investigation by police, the state fire marshal’s office and the federal Department of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
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Information from: The Wichita (Kan.) Eagle, http://www.kansas.com
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