In 2011, 35-year-old Brett Seacat, a police instructor at the Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center, lived with his wife Vashti and their two boys, aged two and four, in Kingman, Kansas. During the early morning hours of April 30, 2011 a fire broke out in the Seacat house in the small south central Kansas town of three thousand. Brett and the boys got out of the dwelling unharmed. Vashti Seacat, found by firefighters in her bed with a bullet in her brain, did not.
According to Brett Seacat, he had been sleeping on the living room couch when during the middle of the night his wife called him on her cellphone from the master bedroom with instructions to get the boys out of the house. He ran upstairs to find the master bedroom on fire. When Brett lifted his wife from the bed her body was limp and she was bleeding from a bullet wound to her head. Because the room was breaking out in flames he left his wife and rushed to save the boys.
Arson investigators determined that someone used gasoline as an accelerant to set fires at several points in the Seacat master bedroom. Criminal investigators with the Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) assumed that the arsonist had shot the victim in the head before torching the house. Since the Seacats were in the midst of a divorce suspicion immediately fell upon Brett Seacat as the arson-murderer.
On May 12, 2011, two agents with the KBI interrogated Brett Seacat at the Reno County Sheriff's Office. The session lasted seven hours during which time the suspect admitted that he had purchased software to track his wife's text messages and her GPS location. He told his questioners that he had threatened to move out of the house with the boys if his wife proceeded with the divorce. The day before her death Vashti had served her husband with the divorce papers.
During the interrogation Mr. Seacat also conceded that on the day before his wife's sudden and violent death he was in his office at the training center destroying computer hard drives. He said he understood why the investigators considered him a suspect in his wife's death and the arson, but insisted that she had set the fire before shooting herself in the head. According to the suspect this was an arson-suicide case, not an arson-murder.
In describing his discovery of the fire and his wife's body, Brett Seacat said, "I remember hearing my own voice inside my head saying, 'dead.' Then all of a sudden it sort of came to me, 'dead, fire,
kids.' "
In the course of the prolonged interrogation (the suspect was not under arrest) the suspect showed no emotion, and on several occasions laughed with his questioners. The KBI agents made it clear they didn't think Seacat's account of that night made any sense. Why would Vashti risk her children's lives by setting the fire, calling him on the phone, then climbing into bed, pulling up the covers and shooting herself in the head? Moreover, Mr. Seacat had no traces of soot from the fire or blood from his wife on his clothing. The suspect responded to this by saying: "I'm with you on that. It doesn't make sense at all."
Agents with the KBI, on Friday, May 14, 2011, arrested Brett Seacat on charges of first-degree murder, aggravated arson and two counts of child endangerment. A magistrate set his bail at $1 million.
On May 23, 2013 the Seacat murder trial got underway at the Kingman County Court House in the town of Kingman. Following the opening statements by the attorneys on both sides of the case, the state began presenting its evidence with testimony from the medical examiner, arson investigators and the KBI agents who had interrogated the defendant in May of 2011.
On May 30, 2013, the state put Karen Roberts on the stand. Roberts, who worked with the defendant at the Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center, testified that on the day before Vashti Seacat's death the defendant asked for an overhead projector to be pulled out of storage. According to the witness, Mr. Seacat spent the entire day locked into his office. (According to prosecutors the last handwritten entry in the victim's journal, a message suggesting suicide, had been forged. Pursuant to this theory the suspect had used the overhead projector to practice writing in his wife's hand. The defendant claimed that he needed the device in connection with a fraud investigation he was conducting.)
KBI forensic scientist Chris Riddle, on May 31, 2013, testified that he had found traces of gasoline on the defendant's trousers. A state forensic document examiner revealed that the last entry in Vashti's journal was not in her handwriting. The expert could not, however, identify the defendant as the forger.
Joy Trotnic, one of Vashti Seacat's co-workers, took the stand and said that on the day before her death Vashti had expressed concern that her estranged husband would not move out of the house as promised. "Do you think Brett would burn down the house with me in it?" she asked.
Connie Suderman, the Seacat marriage counselor, told the jurors that the defendant had called her shortly after Vashti's death. According to this witness, he said, "I killed her. Vashti is dead and it's my fault." In describing her conversation with the defendant that day, the therapist said, "I wouldn't say in hearing his voice that I thought he was distressed in any way. He was quite calm. I didn't hear sadness. I didn't hear tearfulness or crying or expressions of surprise or horror or words of exhaustion."
According to the marriage counselor, Vashti Seacat had indicated that her husband "wasn't doing well" with the pending divorce. "She [Vashti] told me that he [the defendant] had awakened her from her sleep and told her that he had a dream that he had killed her.
On June 6, 2013, after the prosecution rested its case, defense attorney Roger Falk put his client on the stand. The defendant explained that he had destroyed two laptop hard drives after he had arrived at work that day to protect against identity theft. He said he had planned to sell the computers. During his testimony the defendant spoke with ease, and occasionally smiled at the jurors. While portraying himself as a loving husband and father, the defendant admitted that he had threatened to expose his wife's alleged affairs, wreck her career and take away her sons if she divorced him.
An expert witness named Gene Gietzen testified for the defense that the pair of trousers the defendant had been wearing on the day in question had been improperly packaged by a KBI arson investigator. As a result, this evidence could have been contaminated.
On Monday, June 10, 2013, the prosecutor and the defense attorney made their closing arguments to the jury of five men and eight women. The next day the jury returned its verdict: guilty of all charges. At Seacat's sentencing hearing on August 5, 2013 the judge sentenced him to life in prison.
According to Brett Seacat, he had been sleeping on the living room couch when during the middle of the night his wife called him on her cellphone from the master bedroom with instructions to get the boys out of the house. He ran upstairs to find the master bedroom on fire. When Brett lifted his wife from the bed her body was limp and she was bleeding from a bullet wound to her head. Because the room was breaking out in flames he left his wife and rushed to save the boys.
Arson investigators determined that someone used gasoline as an accelerant to set fires at several points in the Seacat master bedroom. Criminal investigators with the Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) assumed that the arsonist had shot the victim in the head before torching the house. Since the Seacats were in the midst of a divorce suspicion immediately fell upon Brett Seacat as the arson-murderer.
On May 12, 2011, two agents with the KBI interrogated Brett Seacat at the Reno County Sheriff's Office. The session lasted seven hours during which time the suspect admitted that he had purchased software to track his wife's text messages and her GPS location. He told his questioners that he had threatened to move out of the house with the boys if his wife proceeded with the divorce. The day before her death Vashti had served her husband with the divorce papers.
During the interrogation Mr. Seacat also conceded that on the day before his wife's sudden and violent death he was in his office at the training center destroying computer hard drives. He said he understood why the investigators considered him a suspect in his wife's death and the arson, but insisted that she had set the fire before shooting herself in the head. According to the suspect this was an arson-suicide case, not an arson-murder.
In describing his discovery of the fire and his wife's body, Brett Seacat said, "I remember hearing my own voice inside my head saying, 'dead.' Then all of a sudden it sort of came to me, 'dead, fire,
kids.' "
In the course of the prolonged interrogation (the suspect was not under arrest) the suspect showed no emotion, and on several occasions laughed with his questioners. The KBI agents made it clear they didn't think Seacat's account of that night made any sense. Why would Vashti risk her children's lives by setting the fire, calling him on the phone, then climbing into bed, pulling up the covers and shooting herself in the head? Moreover, Mr. Seacat had no traces of soot from the fire or blood from his wife on his clothing. The suspect responded to this by saying: "I'm with you on that. It doesn't make sense at all."
Agents with the KBI, on Friday, May 14, 2011, arrested Brett Seacat on charges of first-degree murder, aggravated arson and two counts of child endangerment. A magistrate set his bail at $1 million.
On May 23, 2013 the Seacat murder trial got underway at the Kingman County Court House in the town of Kingman. Following the opening statements by the attorneys on both sides of the case, the state began presenting its evidence with testimony from the medical examiner, arson investigators and the KBI agents who had interrogated the defendant in May of 2011.
On May 30, 2013, the state put Karen Roberts on the stand. Roberts, who worked with the defendant at the Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center, testified that on the day before Vashti Seacat's death the defendant asked for an overhead projector to be pulled out of storage. According to the witness, Mr. Seacat spent the entire day locked into his office. (According to prosecutors the last handwritten entry in the victim's journal, a message suggesting suicide, had been forged. Pursuant to this theory the suspect had used the overhead projector to practice writing in his wife's hand. The defendant claimed that he needed the device in connection with a fraud investigation he was conducting.)
KBI forensic scientist Chris Riddle, on May 31, 2013, testified that he had found traces of gasoline on the defendant's trousers. A state forensic document examiner revealed that the last entry in Vashti's journal was not in her handwriting. The expert could not, however, identify the defendant as the forger.
Joy Trotnic, one of Vashti Seacat's co-workers, took the stand and said that on the day before her death Vashti had expressed concern that her estranged husband would not move out of the house as promised. "Do you think Brett would burn down the house with me in it?" she asked.
Connie Suderman, the Seacat marriage counselor, told the jurors that the defendant had called her shortly after Vashti's death. According to this witness, he said, "I killed her. Vashti is dead and it's my fault." In describing her conversation with the defendant that day, the therapist said, "I wouldn't say in hearing his voice that I thought he was distressed in any way. He was quite calm. I didn't hear sadness. I didn't hear tearfulness or crying or expressions of surprise or horror or words of exhaustion."
According to the marriage counselor, Vashti Seacat had indicated that her husband "wasn't doing well" with the pending divorce. "She [Vashti] told me that he [the defendant] had awakened her from her sleep and told her that he had a dream that he had killed her.
On June 6, 2013, after the prosecution rested its case, defense attorney Roger Falk put his client on the stand. The defendant explained that he had destroyed two laptop hard drives after he had arrived at work that day to protect against identity theft. He said he had planned to sell the computers. During his testimony the defendant spoke with ease, and occasionally smiled at the jurors. While portraying himself as a loving husband and father, the defendant admitted that he had threatened to expose his wife's alleged affairs, wreck her career and take away her sons if she divorced him.
An expert witness named Gene Gietzen testified for the defense that the pair of trousers the defendant had been wearing on the day in question had been improperly packaged by a KBI arson investigator. As a result, this evidence could have been contaminated.
On Monday, June 10, 2013, the prosecutor and the defense attorney made their closing arguments to the jury of five men and eight women. The next day the jury returned its verdict: guilty of all charges. At Seacat's sentencing hearing on August 5, 2013 the judge sentenced him to life in prison.
Jim, you're an excellent reporter! Just catching up with this case now on Dateline ... do you have any idea who has custody of these two precious little boys???
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