Detective testifies former KU student suspected of arson ‘simply liked fire’

? An Olathe man accused of setting 14 fires in less than a week last year talked of being “infatuated” with fire, a police detective testified at his arson trial in Johnson County District Court.

Olathe Police Detective Tod Paske told of going to Fontana, Calif., to interview David R. Jay, 24, about the series of fires in four Kansas City suburbs–Olathe, Overland Park, Leawood and Lenexa.

“He simply liked fire,” Paske testified Tuesday in response to a question from Rick Guinn, an assistant Johnson County district attorney. “He used the word ‘infatuated.”‘

The fires between March 7 and 11 caused millions of dollars in damage. Paske testified that Jay told him they were set with about $20 worth of starter logs, camping fuel and wooden matches that he bought.

The detective said Jay initially told him it was “all a blur” and described himself as “pretty much suicidal” during the spree, but that he was able to give details about the fires and his thought processes.

“I felt like he wasn’t hiding anything,” Paske testified. “He was open.”

The biggest and most destructive fire was on March 11 at a building under construction in Olathe that Jay told Paske he thought was a hotel, but which was actually to have been a residence for older people.

Jay turned himself in to police in California four days later. He has pleaded not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect to 13 counts of arson and one of aggravated arson.

Jay, a former Kansas University student, also is suspected in three fires set in Lawrence in the same month, including one at Watson Library. If prosecutors decided to pursue those charges, he wouldn’t come to Douglas County until his case in Johnson County ended.