The Maitland Opera House was destroyed by fire Saturday. The owner of the property, Kenneth Rainwater is still missing. Rainwater, 66, was recently released on bond awaiting trial on child pornography charges.
Holt County Sheriff Scott Wedlock says they found evidence that may prove helpful.
“We found some evidence that we collected and sent off for some forensic evaluation, ” Wedlock said in an interview.
“We used some cadaver dogs in the area to support our findings there. They were consistent with where we’d collected the evidence from. Unfortunately, we can’t go much further on any of that until those folks report back in. I’m going to have to hold off until we get our forensic reports.”
Wedlock said two notes were found in Rainwater’s car Saturday. One of them detailed his “military explosive experience” and the other said insisted he wouldn’t get a fair trial and indicated he would leave the country.
As to the cause of the fire, Wedlock reserved comment.
“There again, my expertise is not in that, and my fire marshal investigators have not completed their investigation on that.” Earlier, Wedlock labeled the fire “suspicious,” but was unable to pin down the cause.
Wedlock urged anyone with information that could help to call his office at (660)446-3305.