A death originally thought to be linked to a west Wichita house fire last month has now been ruled a homicide after an autopsy showed the man was shot in the upper body, Wichita police spokesperson Juan Rebolledo said this week.
Mike Epperson was found dead inside his home during a fire, leaving the Wichita Fire Department to investigate.
“However, the (Wichita Police Department) is now investigating the death after the coroner’s office results were presented,” Rebolledo said in an email.
The results revealed that the 69-year-old man had a gunshot wound to his upper body, Rebolledo said. The autopsy has not been publicly released.
Police are still investigating the death; no one has been arrested.
Fire investigators were not available Friday to say whether the fire was set intentionally.
At around 7:37 a.m. on Jan. 6, firefighters were called to a single-family home on fire in the 3400 block of West Second Street, which is near Sheridan. Firefighters had a hard time getting inside the home with hoses because of “excessive storage” inside, Wichita fire battalion chief Jose Ocadiz previously told The Eagle.
Police reports show officers were called back to the home two times since the fire: on Jan. 14 for a report of a padlock being “cut/damaged” and again on Jan. 28 when someone broke into the home and did $100 in damage and took another $200 in property.
At the time, Epperson’s death was the city’s third homicide; there have been six so far this year. There was one homicide through Jan. 6 of last year, but 12 by this time in 2022.