Arson charges have been filed in Sequoyah County District Court, Sallisaw, against the owner of a Sallisaw daycare center.

Kristy Kay Kisselburg, 26, of Vian, owner of Miss Kristy’s Day Care and Learning Center in Sallisaw is being charged with one count of second degree arson and one count of endangering emergency service personnels’ life during arson.

Miss Kristy’s Day Care and Learning Center caught fire Aug. 30 and charges were filed Thursday in district court. The daycare received extensive damage from the fire that broke out in the kitchen area on the south end of the building, authorities said.

A felony warrant for arrest was issued Thursday morning. Kisselburg’s bond was set at $20,000. Kisselburg walked into the Sequoyah County Court Clerk’s office and submitted a $20,000 cashier’s check to post bond.

“The case was filed, a warrant was issued, and Kisselburg turned herself in to the Sequoyah County Sheriff’s Office,” Ryan Wyrick, prosecuting attorney handling the case, said.

Wyrick said Kisselburg will face arraignment at 1:30 p.m. Sept. 30 in district court.

Kisselburg said she was advised to not make any comments at this time. She confirmed she went to the courthouse and she turned herself in.

“I did my paperwork that I had to do, paid my money in full and went home. There were no handcuffs and no drama,” she said.

Kisselburg said other media have twisted the story, which is getting out of hand. She said she would talk when she is able. She said she was thankful for all the love and support from her family, her church, her friends, and the people of the community.

During a previous interview with Kisselburg she told Your TIMES that detectives and the fire marshal had interrogated her extensively. She said, “It’s obvious that when they saw I had gasoline in there it was the end for me.

“The investigators have already made up their minds and that frustrates me,” Kisselburg said. “It’s seems pretty much one sided. I’m going to have to fight to prove my innocence and I will.

“When I opened the oven I almost died. I did not do this on purpose. This is my living,” Kisselburg said. “I’m not admitting to something I didn’t do.”

“People around here have known me my whole life and know I didn’t do this. A few people are trying their best to demonize me,” Kisselburg said.

The fire

During a previous telephone interview with Kisselburg, Kisselburg told Your TIMES she had spent most of the day Aug. 30 stripping the floors and baseboards in the daycare with gasoline. She said when she deep cleans she uses gas.

According to the State Fire Marshal’s report, the Sallisaw Fire Department was dispatched to Miss Kristy’s Day Care and Learning Center at 307 N. Dogwood at 10:17 a.m. The fire department arrived at 10:20 a.m. and saw the fire was in the south end of the building in the kitchen area.

Firefighters Boyd Waters, Chase Manning and Randall Baker entered the building and did not encounter any fire when they entered the first room. Waters, Manning and Baker crawled down the hall to the south because of the dense smoke and noticed a small hallway. A small fire was found in the kitchen.

“When the three firemen extinguished the fire in the kitchen they noticed a strong smell of gasoline. They checked their gear they had on and realized they had gasoline on them,” Tony Rust, Oklahoma State Fire Marshal investigator, reported.

According to the report, Rust arrived on the scene at 11:30 a.m. to examine the fire scene.

Rust reported when he entered the fire scene he noticed a strong odor of gasoline. Several towels were soaked with gasoline and laying around the door leading from the kitchen area into the hallway and into the main part of the building. Rust examined the kitchen and found a plastic container of gasoline sitting on the kitchen counter within two inches of the cook stove. “A box in the southeast corner of the kitchen had fleece baby blankets inside soaked with gasoline,” Rust said in the report.

Rust examined the room outside the kitchen and found the bottom of a melted plastic container that had the odor of gasoline sitting on the floor at the base of the support beam in the room. There was what appeared to be a pour pattern from the area of the support beam to the west toward the back door. There were two separate areas along the south wall of what appeared to be the dining room with two distinct “V” shape patterns.

Rust examined the cook stove in the kitchen and found a skillet of grease sitting on the left front burner. There was also another pot sitting on the back left burner and a kitchen towel laying on the right front burner that had burned areas on it. The oven door was open and the inside of the oven was clean but the handle on the front of the stove was melted.

On the floor in front of the cook stove was a towel soaked with gasoline. Rust noticed all the controls on the front of the stove turned to the off position but the oven control was turned on high.

Rust asked Sallisaw Fire Chief Anthony Armstrong if one of the firefighters had opened the oven door and Waters told Rust he had opened it and found a cookware bowl inside containing a liquid substance.

Kisselburg’s interview

During the interview with Rust, Kisselburg told Rust she had been cleaning her floors and baseboards with gasoline on Aug. 29, the day before the fire. Kisselburg said she had purchase gas from the Valero Convenience store in Roland. She told Rust she had put the gasoline in plastic containers for transport. Kisselburg stated that while she was cleaning there were no doors or windows open in the building.

Kisselburg told Rust she got hungry and put two pieces of chicken in the oven to cook. Kisselburg said she ate one piece of the chicken but the other one was not done so she put it back in the oven to cook. Kisselburg said she left the building a 7 p.m. to go to Fort. Smith to buy groceries for the day care.

When Kisselburg left Fort. Smith she drove straight to Jeremy Davis’s home 14 miles north of Sallisaw on U.S. Highway 59. Kisselburg said she put her groceries in Jeremy Davis’s refrigerator and Davis and she watched a movie. Kisselburg left Davis’s house sometime after 1 a.m.

Kisselburg said she went to Miss Kristy’s Day Care and Learning Center on Aug. 30 to get her fingernail polish. When Kisselburg entered the building she smelled something burning and thought about the chicken that she left in the oven the day before. Kisselburg said she went down the hall to the kitchen and opened the oven door. Kisselburg said the fire came out of the oven and she turned and ran back up the hallway.

During the interview Kisselburg said she got a fire extinguisher and was going to go back down to the kitchen to try to put the fire out but said she felt she couldn’t put the fire out so she ran to the neighbor’s house where no one answered the door. Kisselburg told Rust she went to the other neighbor’s house and asked them to call 911.

According to the report, Rust asked her to take her hair down so he could check for singeing. According to the report, Rust did not see any signs of singeing to her hair or eyebrows.

Employee interviews

During the interviewing process with several present and past employees Rust was told that the employees were required to help clean the daycare. Every employee said they never used gasoline to clean the day care because it was harmful and hazardous. Every employee said they had never smelled gasoline or heard Kisselburg talk about cleaning with gasoline. They also said Kisselburg or her designated trainer trained them to clean the day care by using a bleach and water mixture which is a standard set forth by the Oklahoma Sate Department of Human Services.

Financial strain

According to the report, several present and past employees told Rust that their payroll checks would not clear the bank. One employee said that at times she would not cash her payroll check on the day she received it so the other employees could get their checks cashed. Employees said at different times while purchasing supplies for the day care the check would not clear because there was not enough money in the account to cover the check.

According to the report, Linda Smith, former employee who was injured at Miss Kristy’s Day Care and Learning Center, said that on the day of the injury Kisselburg took her to her family physician who told Smith that she needed to be treated at the emergency room.

Kisselburg took Smith to Sequoyah Memorial Hospital in Sallisaw where Kisselburg and Smith were met by Smith’s husband. Smith’s husband discussed whose insurance would be paying the bills and he told Kisselburg that it would be Worker’s Compensation. Kisselburg later told Smith that if she (Smith) would file the medical charges on her (Smith’s) personal insurance that she (Kisselburg) would reimburse her later.

Smith said Kisselburg did not reimburse her for any medical bills. According to the report, Smith said that Kisselburg told her that if she filed a Worker’s Compensation claim that the day care would have to close its doors.

Investigating agents summary

According to the report, Rust determined this was an incendiary fire. The building had been set up to burn all the evidence, and the remaining evidence supports the fire was humanly induced.

Rust’s conclusion in the report reads:

“The placement of various containers of ignitable liquids and the various locations of cloth soaked with an ignitable liquid is the intent of arson. The use of gasoline to clean the baseboards is not a reasonable act. Had Kisselburg actually done the cleaning as she stated, then the probability of ignition from a natural gas water heater, in an enclosed room, would have resulted in a fire during the cleaning. Common sense application of scientific fire study indicates that the gasoline firefighters smelled on their clothing came from spillage of the ignitable liquids during the fire suppression efforts. Had this gasoline been distributed prior to the open burn, there would be fire in more then the one area observed by the firefighters. The absence of gasoline odor during the field interview with Kisselburg would also support the gasoline was contained prior to the firefighters entering. The two “V” pattern fire locations indicted areas of high fuel load. Using the stove as an ignition for the third set all indicate multiple locations for this fire. That would eliminate accidental causes for this fire. Inaccurate statements made to myself supported by scientific training and a follow-up investigation of the financial situation of Kisselburg indicate that Kisselburg had probable cause to be charged with arson.”