WICHITA, Kan (AP) -- An arsonist destroyed the Vann Funeral Services building early Friday morning, causing damage estimated at $210,000, a fire official said.
The funeral home owner, Michael Vann, said the arson was not only a crime against his business -- located at 1211 N. Cleveland -- but it was "violence" against three families whose loved ones' bodies were inside.
The families couldn't be reached for comment Friday, but Vann said: "They're understanding toward me. But at the same time, this has increased their grief level and concern."
One of the three recovered bodies -- which was being held by authorities and was taken to the coroner's office -- is that of Robert L. Taylor, a recent homicide victim, Vann said.
Why authorities had Taylor's body wasn't clear; neither Vann nor police or fire investigators would comment on that.
A funeral service for Taylor was planned for Friday, but the fire forced its cancellation, Vann said.
Police have said that Taylor died Jan. 6. He was shot in the abdomen on Dec. 28 while he was sitting in the back seat of a car that had pulled up to a home in the 2200 block of North Grove. The homicide remains unsolved.
The other two bodies that were recovered after the fire have been taken to another mortuary, Vann said.
Fire Capt. Brad Crisp would not discuss a possible motive for the crime or how the arson occurred. He said fire investigators are working with Wichita police and the federal Bureauof Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Two of the bodies in the funeral home at the time of the fire were in caskets, and the other body was being prepared for services, Vann said.
Despite the competitiveness of the funeral home business, Vann said, seven other mortuaries -- mainly from Wichita -- have offered to help him serve his customers while he regroups.
Vann said he is determined to keep the business operating; beginning today, Vann Funeral Services will temporarily use another mortuary to continue its work.
The emergency response to the fire began at 1:38 a.m., when someone called 911 to report it, Fire Marshal Ed Bricknell said. Fire crews found the building, near 13th Street and I-135, engulfed in fire and had to fight it from outside.
Because of the cold -- the temperature was around 10 to 15 degrees -- supervisors rotated crews fighting the fire. Initially, about 24 firefighters responded. It took about an hour to control the fire.
The one-story, yellow-brick building, which is roughly 4,000 square feet, was a "total loss," Bricknell said.
Vann, who also serves as a Sedgwick County fire captain, said the fire had destroyed or heavily damaged a van, a hearse, caskets --"everything."
Although the business is insured, he said, some things are not replaceable. Inside the ruins were about 400 thank-you cards he has received from families since he bought the funeral home business in 1998.
It's too early, he said, to decide whether to rebuild or move to a new location.
"Right now, my dream" -- owning a business --"is on hold," he said Friday as he stood outside the building, surrounded by sheets of ice left by firefighting efforts.
"But we'll rise out of the ashes."
