CASPER — A 35-year-old Casper man accused of trying to burn down the house of his ex-boyfriend allegedly made sure he saved his pet snake from the fire, according to investigators.
David Lee Wilkinson waived his preliminary hearing in Natrona County Circuit Court on Tuesday on charges of first-degree arson and third-degree arson stemming from the July incident, as well as two counts of domestic battery stemming from an incident earlier this month.
Court records show the arson charges resulted from the report of a structure fire at 3:42 a.m. in the 2200 block of Sagewood Avenue on July 16. A responding Casper Police Department officer found Wilkinson at the residence with his pet snake.
“David stated he smoked a cigarette in the garage earlier and then went inside,” a police affidavit states. “David was in the living room when he noticed the residence getting cloudy.
"David grabbed his snake and tried to look for his two cats. David then called his mother … and exited the residence.”
When his parents arrived at the house, he told his mother, “I promise, I didn’t do anything,” the officer writes in the affidavit.
‘Well, Have Fun With That’
Wilkinson initially told police he lived at the residence with a 41-year-old male who was supposed to get off work at 2 a.m. and speculated the other man might be with an ex-boyfriend.
The affidavit states Mills Fire Chief Wil Gay investigated the blaze and reported the fire started in the garage and moved into the kitchen area.
Wilkinson told the fire chief that the owner was his boyfriend and was at work.
He admitted to smoking in the garage and was unsure where he put his cigarette out. Wilkinson told the chief that the fire was where there was a bunch of clothes in the garage, the affidavit states.
During an interview with the 41-year-old homeowner on the afternoon of July 16, the chief reports that the homeowner said he and Wilkinson had an argument when he arrived home at 2 a.m. and attempted to kick Wilkinson out of his house and put all of Wilkinson’s clothes in the garage.
He told the fire chief that Wilkinson went to the garage to smoke, came back and then made a comment along the lines of, “Well, have fun with that, your garage is on fire,” the affidavit states.
The homeowner found a fire in a metal clothes basket, put it out with a fire extinguisher and told Wilkinson to leave.
When Wilkinson continued to argue, the homeowner left the residence about 3:15 a.m. and then got the text from Wilkinson that his house was on fire, the affidavit states.
Argument
An interview with the homeowner by a Casper police detective on July 21 confirmed that the homeowner had returned home, gotten into an argument and confrontation with Wilkinson, and dragged him from the bedroom onto the front porch while Wilkinson was naked.
Wilkinson then entered the garage using the code on the door, the affidavit states.
The 41-year-old put Wilkinson’s clothes in a basket as well as Wilkinson’s phone and took it to the garage and told him he needed to leave.
He told the detective that he went back to bed and heard a banging on the door leading to the garage and opened it to find the laundry basket on fire.
He then realized that Wilkinson had locked him in the garage and out of the home, he told police.
The homeowner said he opened the door from the garage to his backyard to get airflow because it was smoky.
The homeowner left the house because he did not want to get into a physical confrontation with Wilkinson, the affidavit states. He went to his parent’s home and went to bed.
He did not see a social media message from Wilkinson at 3:24 a.m. that his garage was on fire, the affidavit states.
Earlier Response
Earlier in July, police were called to the house for a domestic abuse call.
The homeowner said Wilkinson had abused him, but then admitted he lied and said they had consensual sex.
He said Wilkinson started leaving water running and turning on the washer to waste utilities.
Wilkinson in an interview on July 21 told the detective that the homeowner was his “ex-fiancé” and he did not know why they were still not together.
He said he had been drinking with a 31-year-old male friend had been at the residence while the 41-year-old was work. Wilkinson said he woke up to the smell of smoke and the fire alarm sounding.
Wilkinson said he then opened the main door to the garage and tried to put out the fire with an extinguisher from under the kitchen sink.
When stuff from the ceiling started to fall, he grabbed his snake and left. He also looked for his cats, but could not find them, the affidavit states.
“David began knocking on neighbors’ doors because he was worried about their safety,” the affidavit states. “David had not called police or fire and believed one of his neighbors might have called.”
Wilkinson told the detective his ex-boyfriend did not return home because of the argument they had earlier in the day and that the fire may have started because his ashtray in the garage was too full.
Admitted Lighting Clothes
When confronted with the homeowner’s story that he came home and got in the argument with Wilkinson, Wilkinson changed his story and admitted to setting his clothes basket on fire with a lighter.
He then recanted his story, the affidavit states.
Wilkinson also admitted to getting in a fight with the 41-year-old earlier in July and hitting him. The 41-year-old held him down until police arrived, the affidavit states.
An interview with the 31-year-old man who was with Wilkinson on July 5 said he had gone to the house and had some drinks with Wilkinson and got ready to leave.
Wilkinson mentioned his relationship with the 41-year-old was “on the rocks.” The man told police Wilkinson was “very drunk” and that he needed to get up for work and insisted on leaving.
The 31-year-old left the home July 16 about 1:30 a.m. He said there was no laundry basket in the garage. He also told police he heard from Wilkinson at 3 a.m. that he had been kicked out of the house.
He advised Wilkinson to call someone to pick him up or convince the homeowner to let him stay until the morning. He told police he then blocked Wilkinson from calling him again.
The next day, the 31-year-old found Wilkinson’s wallet in his car, went to the residence and found the garage burned down, the affidavit states.
When asked if Wilkinson had said anything in his text about burning the garage, the friend said that he did not. However, Wilkinson, who was a former boyfriend, had in the past threatened to burn his family alive and burn other things down.
The 31-year-old told police Wilkinson only made those threats when he was drunk, the affidavit states.
The affidavit states that the garage and home suffered $200,000 worth of damage, according to an insurance fire investigator.
Meanwhile ...
Meanwhile on Oct. 11, officers were called at 7:39 a.m. to the 200 block of South Kenwood Street for the report of a suspicious person.
A woman reported a man in a ripped black shirt and shorts came onto her porch and rang her doorbell. He then opened her door, and she told him to sit on the porch as she called police, the affidavit states.
The affidavit states the man walked back to the house across the street.
As officers arrived at the scene, they heard a “bang” from inside and the 41-year-old who owned the Sagewood Avenue home and who Wilkinson identified as his “ex-fiancé” in the arson case was seen by police walking out the door of a residence across the street with a bruised eye.
Another officer found Wilkinson in the home. The 41-year-old told police they had agreed it would be their last night in a romantic relationship, and that if their relationship continued, “Wilkinson would kill (the 41-year-old) due to domestic violence,” the affidavit states.
The 41-year-old said they drank alcohol and smoked marijuana until he blacked out. At 7 a.m., he felt pain on his face. He then armed himself with a kitchen knife to get away from Wilkinson.
“Wilkinson stated that (the 41-year-old) became ‘scary’ so Wilkinson beat him up,” the affidavit states.
Wilkinson told police that the 41-year-old grabbed the knife after he beat him, and had threatened him with it.
Police found a leafy green substance in the home and multiple glass pipes with residue, the affidavit states.
The first-degree arson charge against Wilkinson carries a potential penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000 or both. The third-degree arson charge carries a penalty of five years in prison and a fine of $5,000 or both.
The two domestic battery charges are punishable by up to six months in jail and a $750 fine.
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
