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Kenosha Police Department search warrant reveals new information about Thanksgiving apartment fire that killed three children and only their father survived
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Joshua Kannin, who was being treated for smoke inhalation, told police he “panicked” when he woke up and saw the fire and went out the front door to try to get help. When he returned, he could hear the children inside but was unable to contact them.
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The cause of the fire is still under investigation
Wisconsin father Joshua Kannin told police he panicked after realizing his home was on fire and left his three children inside while he ran to get help, search warrants show. He ends up being the sole survivor – and now their mother asks him why he left their children behind.
Jourdan Feasby told People magazine that she spent Thanksgiving morning with her three children — Rylee, 10, Connor, 9, and Alena, 7 — before dropping them off at her father’s two-story apartment. Hours later, she learned her sons had died in the fire and her daughter had been taken to the hospital.
Fesby said she was in the hospital with her daughter, who later died, and asked Canning: “Won’t you grab the kids first?”
“Things didn’t go well,” she claimed.
Kannin told police that Rylee and Conner were sleeping in a second-floor bedroom around 9:00 p.m. on November 27. About an hour later, he went to bed by himself, by which time his daughter “woke up” and was in the room.
According to a search warrant obtained by PEOPLE, Kanin said that when he woke up shortly after officers responded to the fire just before 11:00 p.m., he “felt his eyes were cloudy” and when he went downstairs, he saw “a small fire on the kitchen floor.”
“Joshua said he panicked and walked out the front door,” police wrote. The father told them he thought to himself, “I have to get help.”
He yelled at the children to come downstairs as he banged on a neighbor’s door and screamed for help, the warrant said.
“I opened the door (to his residence) and heard the children’s voices. I tried to go back, but the smoke was coming at me and I couldn’t see anything. I barely took two steps before I had to turn around and go back,” Canning told police. “When I opened the door it got worse.”
He also stated that he placed a cigarette by the kitchen sink before going to bed, but believed he put it out before going to bed.
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From left: Connor, Rylee and Alena Kannin
When emergency crews arrived, they found two children believed to be dead – later identified as brothers Riley and Connor – and another child with severe burns.
Fisby told PEOPLE the area where they were found was the kitchen/dining area of the apartment.
Alaina was found near a second-floor bedroom or stairwell and was taken to a nearby hospital, where she died from her injuries, the report said.
Kannin was taken to a nearby hospital where he was treated for smoke inhalation. He was released the next morning, Fesby said.
In response to the issuance of the search warrant, the Kenosha Police Department issued a clarification on the status of its ongoing investigation.
Investigators are looking into the possibility of arson and potential homicide, the warrant said. Under Wisconsin law, law enforcement must outline potential criminal charges when requesting a search warrant to determine probable cause.
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The unsealed search warrant was drawn up after a black Samsung cell phone belonging to Kannin was found at the scene the night of the fire. The phone was then searched under a search warrant. The search found no evidence of criminal activity related to the fire.
“As the investigation progresses, they will work with the Kenosha Fire Department to continue to methodically eliminate all possible causes of the fire,” KPD spokesman Lt. Joshua Hecker told PEOPLE. “This is a complex and evolving case, and we remain committed to a thorough, impartial and evidence-based investigation.”
Services were held for the three brothers on Friday. Fisby spoke about her children at the funeral, which she said Canning attended but did not address the mourners gathered there. A GoFundMe has been set up to help pay for funeral expenses.
Officials did not have any update when PEOPLE reached out to them on Monday, Dec. 8.
Read the original article on People
