Left: Tylor A. Burghoff (Jackson County Detention Center). Right: The house in Independence, Mo., that was damaged by a fire on Nov. 20 (Independence Fire Department).
A Missouri man whom witnesses said was "watching" and "laughing" while a house burned down was charged with arson.
The Independence Fire Department in Independence said in a Facebook post that firefighters responded to a house fire on the morning of Nov. 20. The department said no one inside was injured, and the fire was being investigated. According to a probable cause affidavit reviewed by Law&Crime, 35-year-old Tylor A. Burghoff was arrested by the Independence Police Department about two blocks from the home after a witness told officers he saw a man matching Burghoff's description "watching the fire and laughing."
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Police officers said that when they detained Burghoff and searched him, they found two lighters in the pockets of his pants. He was brought to the police station and questioned by detectives after he was read his rights. Burghoff denied that he was at the house or that he had anything to do with the fire.
According to the affidavit, several witnesses placed Burghoff at the scene, including two of the people who were inside the house while it burned. One of those witnesses, the homeowner, told police that she knew who Burghoff was and saw him outside the home that morning, "yelling and laughing while he was outside."
A second witness who was inside the home told police that she also saw Burghoff on the home's porch, "grab[bing] some sort of blue metal can that she described as a gas can." She told police that Burghoff was "knocking on the door," but no one was letting him come inside. He continued to yell, but the witness said she did not see him set the fire.
Two more people who were sleeping inside the house did not see what happened before the fire started.
Despite being told that multiple people saw him at the home that morning, Burghoff still denied that he was there.
None of the occupants were injured in the fire, and the inside of the house did not have any fire damage, according to police.
Burghoff was charged with arson and booked into the Jackson County Detention Center. He is being held on $30,000 bond. His next court dates are a bond hearing on Tuesday and a preliminary hearing on Dec. 18.
