Inset: Brandon Butchkoski (Boone County Sheriff’s Office). Background: The porch where Brandon Butchkoski allegedly set Donovan Baylis on fire in Columbia, Mo., killing him earlier this year (KMIZ/YouTube).
A Missouri man is facing murder and arson charges for allegedly setting a person ablaze on his own porch — burning 80% of their skin off — in a deadly attack that cops say was one in a series of fire assaults on the same residence.
Brandon Butchkoski, 47, is accused of fatally injuring Donovan Baylis, 31, on June 15 just before midnight at a house in the 1500 block of Paris Road in Columbia, according to court documents.
People who live at the home have reported at least three fires being started there, with cops suspecting that Butchkoski was behind all of them. He used backpacks filled with accelerants in the attacks, including one that contained “latex gloves filled with gasoline,” per a probable cause statement.
On June 15, Butchkoski allegedly set Baylis ablaze after he came outside to put out a fire that was ignited by Butchkoski and burning on the porch. Local ABC affiliate KMIZ reported that 80% of Baylis’ skin was burned off.
“[Baylis] went outside to put the fire out, and when he stomped on the fire, he was engulfed in flames,” the probable cause statement says.
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Another resident who was home told police he heard and saw Baylis on fire and “immediately started putting the fire out using a garden hose,” per cops.
“[Baylis] sat on the retaining wall of the porch before he fell over backwards onto the concrete,” the probable cause statement says.
A third person who was at the residence told cops he “heard what he thought was someone ‘jostling something around on the porch,’ like someone was throwing something, and heard a thud,” before Baylis went outside to see what was going on, according to the statement.
“There was a gas can on the railing of the porch,” police allege.
The first resident who went outside said he “saw a wall of fire” and Baylis “was on fire,” according to the probable cause statement. The resident told police that Butchkoski allegedly fled on a “small BMX-style bike with black pegs.” They claimed this was “the third fire that had happened at this location.” The affidavit did not reveal the motive behind the fires.
Butchkoski returned to the home on June 29 and started another fire by throwing a backpack ignited with accelerants on the roof, police say. “Inside the backpack was a cleaner bottle, a drink container, and latex gloves filled with gasoline,” the probable cause statement alleges.
Surveillance video captured Butchkoski carrying the backpack and “throwing the bag up” on the roof, cops say. He was arrested on July 3 and initially charged with arson. Baylis died from his injuries on July 14.
Prosecutors formally charged Butchkoski last week with second-degree murder and first-degree arson. He was behind bars Sunday awaiting his first court date.
The Columbia Missourian reports that Butchkoski is homeless and has had several run-ins with police, including multiple drug arrests and a bust for unlawful possession of a firearm.
