Suspect in Orpheum arson blamed fire on tossed cigarette. He had torches on him
A man charged with igniting an arson fire beside downtown Wichita’s historic Orpheum Theatre in April told authorities he only tossed away a cigarette and “did not mean to catch anything on fire.”
But 33-year-old Jeremy E. Wycoff had multiple lighters and butane torches on him when authorities found him, loitered around the roofing panels that caught fire and hurried off after the flames started, according to a probable cause affidavit released this week that gives new details about the fire’s cause and how authorities tracked down the alleged perpetrator.
The 102-year-old theater, 200 N. Broadway, sustained minor damage to the south side of its exterior, two broken window panes and heat damage to outside artwork in the April 10 fire, which started around 7:30 p.m. in a pile of roofing materials stacked on First Street.
The roofing supplies had been delivered earlier in the day and were surrounded by a chain-link fence in preparation for scheduled repairs to the AT&T building across the street at 154 S. Broadway.
Shortly before the fire started, security cameras outside of the theater caught a man wearing a backpack and red hoodie walking “back and forth several times” and reaching toward a pile of insulation panels, according to the affidavit.
The video footage shows the man hurrying off and heading down an alley once the flames were visible, the affidavit says. The resulting fire engulfed a section of insulation panels and grew “significantly in size within minutes.”
Fire crews arrived to heavy fire and smoke rolling from the pile of roofing materials, the affidavit says.
Fire fighters extinguished the blaze before it harmed the theater further.
In a Facebook post, Orpheum Theatre executive director Stacee Olden credited a bicycle rider who called 911 and also flagged down motorists with preventing “major damage” to the building.
“Good Samaritans, skilled and talented first responders, and dedicated fire fighters saved a part of Wichita’s heartbeat,” she wrote in the post.
The fire caused around $5,000 in damage to the Orpheum and damaged around $20,000 worth of roofing materials sitting in the street. No one was hurt, but Olden was in the century-old theater when the fire started, the affidavit says.
The distinctive clothing the suspect was wearing in the security footage helped authorities find Wycoff: a red hooded sweatshirt with a “Wichita Bail Bonds” logo on the chest, black sunglasses, a backpack with items hanging from it and two-toned beige-and-white shoes.
Wycoff was in the same clothes two days later when fire investigators driving on Market Street spotted and detained him, the affidavit says.
In an interview with the fire investigators, Wycoff admitted he was the person in the security video but said he had only “flicked a cigarette” and “did not mean to catch anything on fire,” according to the affidavit. He “denied any further involvement” in the fire, the affidavit says.
Investigators determined there were “no accidental sources of ignition” where the fire originated and that it had been intentionally set “by way of human hand by an open flame,” the affidavit says.
Prosecutors charged Wycoff with arson and aggravated arson on April 16. His next court date is set for Friday, when he plans to ask a judge to lower his bond, in part because he has no prior felony convictions and “is of limited financial means,” court records show. He is being held in the Sedgwick County Jail on $150,000 bond in the arson case.
This story was originally published April 30, 2025 at 5:41 PM.
