KS man charged in dad’s death used lighter to start fire to kill bugs, court records say

A 41-year-old Bel Aire man charged with killing his father in a house fire last month told police he lit a lamp on fire intentionally while trying to use a lighter to kill bugs, according to an arrest affidavit released Friday.

Joshua Samuel Gentry used a lighter to ignite a lampshade that then caught a recliner on fire and spread from there, a fire investigator wrote in the document. He has been charged with involuntary manslaughter and aggravated arson.

Timothy W. Gentry, Joshua’s 67-year-old dad, died as a result of the fire.

‘My dad’s inside’

A neighbor who made the first 911 call, and who was woken to the fire by his barking dogs, ran over and found Joshua Gentry outside in the front yard.

According to the affidavit, Gentry told the neighbor, ‘My dad’s inside dumbass. Call 911,”’ and ‘Bye bye house, bye bye stupid (expletive) house.’”

Firefighters were called at 2:10 a.m. on Aug. 25 to 5917 Flagstaff in Bel Aire.

Firefighters found Timothy W. Gentry in the hallways between his and his son’s bedrooms. He was “semi-conscious” when they found him, but “went flaccid” while they removed him from the home, the affidavit said.

Timothy Gentry, a retired programmer who liked gardening and classical music, was pronounced dead at 3:11 a.m. at Ascension Via Christi St. Francis.

Joshua Gentry suffered from smoke inhalation and minor burns to his upper back, the court document says.

The home was a total loss.

Burning bugs with a lighter

Here is what else the document says:

At the hospital, he told a fire investigator he was sitting in the living room chair when bugs were crawling all over him. He decided to burn them with his cigar lighter.

His father was asleep in the bedroom.

He used the lighter to ‘light up a lamp’” next to his recliner, but the fire grew quickly, forcing him to leave. He said his father was a heavy sleeper and the fire was so big that he ‘had to bolt out.’”

When asked what lighter he used, Gentry told them ‘this one,’” pulling it out of his pocket and handing it to the fire investigator.

The victim’s daughter and suspect’s sister said she spoke via phone with them both the day before. She said her brother was in a crisis because of anxiety about the fridge and car not working, and because of frustration about the bugs in the home.

Her brother couldn’t reach his crisis coordinator since it was after hours and on the weekend, she told the investigator.

Gentry’s next court date is scheduled for Oct. 15. He’s been in jail since the day of the fire.