Jefferson City man admits to setting mother’s bed on fire, police say

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Jefferson City man was charged Monday with arson, burglary and attempted assault for allegedly setting a fire in an apartment where his brother and mother live.

Kyan P. Pious, 20, was in the Cole County Jail on Tuesday without bond on charges of first-degree arson, first-degree burglary, first-degree attempted assault and armed criminal action, all felonies. An arraignment is set for Monday.

Police and firefighters were sent to the apartment at 3400 N. 10 Mile Drive on Friday, where Pious' brother told investigators that he had put out a fire in his mother's bed, according to a probable cause statement.

Pious' family members told police that they had kicked him out after a "disturbance" on Dec. 14, the statement says, and they felt the fire was a targeted attack.

Investigators found a "Molotov cocktail type device" in the bedroom and determined that cooking oil had been used to set the fire, the statement says. Wires had also been ripped out of the apartment's utility box and a bedroom window and been broken out, with blood left behind.

Pious was arrested and interrogated Monday and allegedly admitted to breaking into the apartment and setting the fire because he had been kicked out.