House fire leads to arrest in Casey’s walk-in cooler

WINFIELD — Casey’s employees experienced a day filled with strange behavior which ended with a house fire, the theft of a bottle of milk, and an arrest made in their walk-in cooler Saturday evening in Winfield.

After reporting the strange behavior throughout the day, these employees and many residents watched as fire destroyed a brick two-story home on North Olive Street while emergency crews tried their best to put it out.

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According to Winfield Police Department, a joint investigation with the State Fire Marshall and Henry County Sheriff’s Office led to the arrest of Matthew Wesley Hesseltine, 40 of Crawfordsville, on charges of second-degree arson, a class C felony, fifth-degree theft, fourth-degree criminal mischief, and trespass, all simple misdemeanors.

These charges came the same day emergency crews responded to the fire on North Olive Street after multiple calls concerning Hesseltine throughout the day.

A criminal complaint filed with Henry County Courts by Winfield Police Chief Jeff Dietrich states that dispatch received several calls reporting a house fire at 108 North Olive Street just before 5 p.m., Nov. 18.

“Upon my arrival, I observed the second-floor southwest room to be consumed in fire and fire through the roof,” Dietrich stated. “I knew this home to be unoccupied as the male that lived there alone had recently passed away.”

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According to an obituary from Peterseim Funeral Home, the homeowner, Richard Hughes died only 12 days earlier on Nov. 6 at Parkview Manor in Wellman.

Dietrich further outlines the events of the evening in his criminal report stating moments after arriving at the house, dispatch received calls from Casey’s in Winfield reporting a man entered the store and told the clerk “they better run.”

“This male then took a bottle of milk from the cooler, drank it, and ran into the walk-in cooler,” Dietrich stated. “Henry County Deputy Aaron Aplara took the male into custody in the walk-in cooler.”

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According to Aplara’s report, he found Hesseltine in the walk-in cooler, which is an employee-only zone, “attempting to ‘hide’ behind boxes.”

Responding to calls about the fire and Hessletine Saturday evening was not the first-time dispatch heard reports about this individual in Winfield on Saturday.

According to Aplara’s report, a call of suspicious activity came in from Casey’s employees around 8 a.m. Saturday.

“Caseys had reported this was the same subject who had called 911 this morning while he was at Caseys saying he needed help because someone took a hit out on him,” Dietrich’s report states. “Before law enforcement arrived, he had ran from Caseys and dropped his wallet in a back yard a few doors north of Caseys.”

“He was advised to caused concern and worry among staff and/or customers and then later exit through a ‘emergency exit’ setting off an alarm,” Alpara stated in his criminal report. “This area is for employees and to not be used by the general public. Employees/staff advised to have asked Matthew to leave and he was not allowed to return. Matthew did do so, but later that evening would eventually come back to the store causing additional incidents.”

According to Aplara, leaving through the emergency exit caused property damage and would require a service call for repairs.

Dietrich reported that the homeowner from that instance gave the wallet to law enforcement Saturday morning and later reported seeing Hesseltine at the city volleyball court on North Olive around 2 p.m.

According to Dietrich’s report, Hesseltine spoke with authorities in the rear of Aplara’s patrol car Saturday evening following his arrest at Casey’s and after they read him his rights.

“Hesseltine explained subjects at the house had invited him in and while they were all upstairs, the other subjects set some cardboard on fire and he escaped through an upstairs window,” Dietrich stated. “He was found to have two lighters on his person. He also had a fresh burn to his hand that was photographed by jail staff.”

“He went on to say he hadn't slept in days due to heavy use of methamphetamine,” Dietrich stated. “… There was never any other subjects observed or identified.”

Comments: AnnaMarie.Ward@southeastiowaunion.com