Jury convicts Grandview man in fire deaths

A Grandview man was found guilty Friday of setting a house fire in September 2014 that killed his 14-month-old daughter and an adult friend.

Stephen D. Elijah, 35, was convicted of two counts of involuntary manslaughter and endangering the welfare of a child in the fire that ravaged a house in the 12000 block of Belmont Avenue.

Jurors, who deliberated more than six hours, acquitted Elijah on the arson charge.

The blaze killed 14-month-old Se’Asia Elijah and Anika M. Hobley, 37, of Kansas City.

During closing arguments Friday, prosecutors said Elijah repeatedly changed his version of what happened that evening.

Se’Asia had burns on her face and soot in her lungs, nose and stomach from smoke she inhaled as the blaze spread throughout the three-story residence.

There was evidence she had been grasping the playpen rail, said Assistant Jackson County Prosecutor Traci Stansell.

The blaze began in the basement at the base of a set of stairs and quickly spread. The Missouri fire marshal determined that gasoline had been used to ignite the fire.

Two girls, ages 11 and 6, jumped from a window about 10 feet above the ground to escape the burning house. They knocked on the door of a neighbor, who called 911.

When fire crews arrived and found Elijah in front of the home attempting to put out the blaze with a garden hose, Elijah told them his infant child was dead on the back deck and a woman was in the basement.

Two officers tried to revive her. Elijah allegedly told them, “My baby is dead. She doesn’t have a heartbeat.” The officers performed CPR until paramedics arrived.

Elijah eventually admitted to detectives that he had set the fire with gasoline.

That day, Elijah had poured gasoline on a fire that was about to go out, he said, and the gas can exploded. Elijah threw the can against a wall, causing the flames to spread.

John Bailey, a public defender representing Elijah, told jurors the fire was not intentionally set “but was a dumb, stupid and terrible mistake.”

Second-degree child endangerment is a misdemeanor. Elijah could be sentenced to seven years of prison on each of the involuntary manslaughter convictions.

This story was originally published May 20, 2016 at 10:39 PM with the headline "Jury convicts Grandview man in fire deaths."