FREMONT COUNTY, Colo. — A 2018 fatal house fire in Canon City sat as a cold case until the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office (FCSO) found a DNA match that led to the arrest of a suspect on Thursday.
FCSO deputies arrested 46-year-old Matthew Allan Rodgers in connection to the May 2018 murder of 76-year-old Kenneth Orchard.
According to a report from KRDO, 9NEWS' partner station in Colorado Springs, Orchard was found dead inside a home on Pinion Avenue soon after fire crews were called out to the scene.
Other than a DNA match in the case that the sheriff’s office said tied Rodgers to the crime, other details on how investigators solved the case were not immediately shared with the public.
Rodgers was arrested on the following charges:
• First-degree homicide, a class 1 felony
• First-degree arson, a class 3 felony
• First-degree burglary, a class 3 felony
• Crimes against an at-risk adult, a class 4 felony
• Tampering with a deceased human body, a class 3 felony
• Tampering with physical evidence, a class 6 felony
Rodgers is being held without bond at the Fremont County Detention Center.
KRDO also reports that a former Fremont County Sheriff’s deputy was sentenced to two years behind bars for stealing from the 2018 crime scene.
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Then-deputy Christopher Pape stole nearly $6,000 in coins and other items while investigating the beating death of Orchard in Canon City, according to KRDO.
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