District Attorney describes former Chico State student with reported ‘anti-colonial’ ideology as the man who destroyed the city’s standing history
By Ken Magri
On Monday afternoon, 30-year-old Chico resident Kevin Alexander Carlson was charged in Butte County Superior Court on two counts of arson: Carlson is the man authorities say sparked the devastating Bidwell Mansion inferno on December 11.
Carlson was taken into custody four days before. He was booked for “intentional felony arson with use of an accelerant.” This came after an investigation by California State Park rangers, in cooperation with the FBI and local police, determined Carlson was the person they were looking for. California State Parks handled the announcement, promising more information this week.
After Carlson’s arraignment in Oroville, Butte County District Attorney Michael Ramsey provided that further information by narrating a minute-by-minute account of how authorities believe the suspect committed the crime.
“This investigation involved terabytes of surveillance videos and digital evidence,” said Ramsey, who explained that Chico Police had gone door-to-door in a series of 360-degree concentric circles, asking residents to search their private security camera footage, which they were more than willing to do for the investigation.
That digital security footage, combined with footage around the mansion itself – as well as more footage from six different retail stores – proved to be crucial. It allegedly helped identify the vehicle Carlson drove, allowing investigators to back-track his movements before the fire. Authorities claim that digital footage also identified the suspect casing the mansion and buying fire-starting materials on the day before, then driving and walking to-and-from the historic landmark on the fateful morning.
Here is a point-by-point summary of Ramsey’s explanation, compiled from the three-week multi-agency investigation. It is important to remember that acts described in the following narrative are all allegations at this time, and Mr. Carlson has yet to be proven guilty of them in a court of law.
“This investigation is still ongoing,” State Parks District Chief Aaron Wright confirmed to reporters.
How the Bidwell Mansion fire was started and discovered
According to Ramsey’s narrative, Carlson is alleged to have visited the mansion on the Tuesday afternoon before the crime, parking his 2001-2007 Toyota Highlander in the visitor parking lot and then walking around the entire building. He then left.
Later that afternoon, Carlson allegedly made his only known visit to Oroville, with his cell phone turned off, purchasing a five-gallon gas can at the Home Depot, white duct tape at the Walmart, and gasoline at the AM/PM – paying cash for all these items.
Back in Chico that same evening, the suspect reportedly bought work gloves and a claw hammer at the Ace Hardware on W. East Avenue, then a box of 30-gallon trash bags at the Food Max, then a long handle lighter at the Chico Walmart that was “on sale for $2.72,” according to Ramsey.
Before 2:00 am on the morning of the fire, the suspect approached the mansion from the north in his Toyota with the license plates removed. It was recorded on security cameras with a broken upper tail light and lower left rear running light.
After getting out of the Toyota with two dark bags, the suspect walked to the mansion and either slipped through ,or climbed over, the cyclone fence.
At 2:06 am, one of the security cameras showed a figure on the north porch starting a fire. An explosion-type sound is heard on the recording at that same time, which may have been a Molotov cocktail bursting. A window glass had been broken and it is alleged that gasoline may have been poured inside one way or another.
The suspect is then seen on cameras walking away from the mansion and back to the Toyota, driving with headlights turned off back to his apartment on Springfield Drive.
The fire burned slowly for an hour. But at 3:05 a catastrophic explosion happened in the mansion’s basement, right under the flames. Authorities theorize that it was from a pre-existing natural gas leak.
At around 3:16 am, a Chico State Police dispatcher, working only one-third of a mile away from the mansion, smelled smoke. She immediately began to monitor the 500 security cameras on campus, saw a fire at the mansion and called Chico’s joint Police and Fire Dispatch. A few minutes later, another citizen called 911 to confirm the mansion was going up in flames.
District Attorney Ramsey said the investigators do not yet know why the mansion’s fire alarm system failed that morning because it appeared to have been set correctly.
Ramsey also pointed out that, because of a natural air-flow system in the mansion’s original 19th century design, which created a flow of cooling breezes on the back side, the flames accelerated at a much faster pace than would have happened in a modern structure.
An arson suspect who grew up in Paradise
Those broken tail lights allegedly helped authorities to later identify Carlson as the owner of the Toyota, making him a suspect whose movements could be monitored before an arrest.
After days of confirming their evidence and trailing Carlson, Chico Police arrested him in a restaurant parking lot on Thursday afternoon, January 2. Ramsey said there was “small resistance, but not much.”
Warrants had been issued to determine the suspect’s cell phone use and locations, and to check for his online presence. Ramsey said that Carlson was found to have little online presence, but did have one Tikok account that indicated he followed extremist groups. His phone and laptop computer are now down in Sacramento at the High Tech Task Force for further analysis.
According to investigators, Carlson was raised in Paradise and graduated from Paradise High School. He earned a BS degree in Math at Chico State and had completed some graduate work in education. The District Attorney said Carlson was a recluse who lived alone in a frugal apartment, estranged from neighbors and his family. He has worked on and off as a line-cook. He has no criminal record.
Carlson ‘s family told authorities his beliefs had caused a rift with them – beliefs that Ramsey described as having “an anti-colonial bend.”
If convicted, Carlson faces an 11 year maximum sentence and a $15,000 fine. The prison time amounts to six years for the arson itself and an additional five years for using gasoline as an accelerant. He is being held without bail.
In court Monday, Carlson said he would like to get his own attorney, but did not yet have one. He was appointed a public defender in the mean time, and is scheduled to reappear on Wednesday morning, January 8 at 11:30 am.
Ramsey acknowledged he would like to go for a longer prison sentence, but a new law that would have added even more years for special circumstances only went into effect after the crime was committed.
A very early news report about the fire mistakenly mentioned someone seeing a “warming fire” near the mansion around the time of the blaze. This incorrect reporting perhaps unintentionally implied that homeless persons may have been responsible, causing rampant speculation on social media.
That turned out to be false. District Attorney Ramsey alleges that the evidence will clearly show Carlson acted alone.
Just before Monday’s news conference, California State Parks issued a press release, saying that the fire is still under active investigation. Investigators are searching for videos related to any of the sites the suspect is alleged to have visited at specific times.
“If the public has any photos or videos related to the Bidwell Mansion fire, please scan the QR code below to submit the information to the CAL FIRE Evidence Submission Portal or call the CAL FIRE,” said the press release.
The hotline for the Office of State Fire Marshal Arson and Bomb Unit is 1-800-468-4408.
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