The preliminary hearing for the owner of a Sallisaw daycare who is being charged with arson was postponed in Sequoyah County District Court Monday—and will now be heard by a Muskogee County district attorney.

The preliminary hearing for Kristy Kay Kisselburg, 26, of Vian, owner of Miss Kristy’s Day Care and Learning Center in Sallisaw, will be heard by Craig Rittenhouse, Muskogee County district attorney. The hearing was rescheduled for March 9.

Kyle Waters, Sequoyah County assistant district attorney said the district attorney’s office recused themselves from the case, meaning the district attorney’s office withdrew or disqualified themselves from the case because of a conflict of interest. Some parents in the county’s justice system have children who attended the daycare.

“We sent a letter to the attorney general’s office who determined the case would be a conflict of interest so we stepped out in order to give the case complete fairness,” Waters said.

Kisselburg pleaded not guilty to the charges Sept. 30 in Sequoyah County District Court, Sallisaw. She is charged with one count of second-degree arson and one count of endangering emergency service personnel life during arson.

Kisselburg is represented by attorney Donn S. Baker of Tahlequah. She was charged Sept. 24 after an investigation into a fire at her daycare on Aug. 30.

Assistant District Attorney Ryan Wyrick said Kisselburg’s preliminary hearing was set originally for 9 a.m. Monday.

Miss Kristy’s Day Care and Learning Center caught fire Aug. 30. The daycare received extensive damage from the fire.

After an investigation and report by Fire Marshal Tony Rust, charges were filed against Kisselburg.

Kisselburg has denied the charges all along, and said the fire was a mistake after she left a piece of chicken cooking in an oven, which ignited the gasoline she was cleaning with.

During a previous telephone interview with Kisselburg, Kisselburg told Your TIMES she had spent most of the day Aug. 29 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 the daycare at 10:17 a.m. Aug. 30. 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.

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

Tony Rust, Oklahoma State Fire Marshal investigator, reported, “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,” Rust reported.

In the report Rust said several towels were soaked with gasoline and was found lying around. Rust examined the kitchen and found a plastic container of gasoline sitting on the kitchen counter within two inches of the cook stove, according to the report.

“A box in the southeast corner of the kitchen had fleece baby blankets inside soaked with gasoline,” Rust said in the report.

Those findings, a pour pattern on the floor and other evidence Rust found lead to the charges.