KANSAS CITY, Mo. (CBS) — A Kansas City father said two suspects forced their way inside his home and tied him up before setting the family’s house on fire near Monroe Avenue and 114th Terrace.
Nathaniel Witt said after the suspects ran from his home, he ran to his neighbor’s house to call 911 for help.
He and his wife hope the suspects will be caught before they target anyone else.
Witt said he heard a knock at his front door last Tuesday. He was expecting a UPS driver but instead found a stranger.
“I opened the door and, without saying a word, he stabbed a knife into the house and caught me on my left arm,” he said. “I was able to slam the door on his arm as hard as I possibly could. He ran out.”
Just days later, on Saturday, he said he was ambushed by two men while checking his mail.
“One stuck what felt like a gun in my back and told me to come into the house,” he said. “Once I was in the house, they had me lay down in the living room. They taped my legs up. They were in the process of taping my arms up. That’s when the fire started.”
He said one suspect focused on duct taping his legs and arms while the other poured lighter fluid around the house and started a fire.
Most of the family’s home is covered in black soot. Many of their belongings are destroyed.
“Our 3-year-old son’s room is completely gone,” he said. “It is a charred wreck.”
Emily Witt, his wife, said, “You see all your memories, your children’s toys, your clothing. Everything. All of a sudden, you walk in this house and everything’s gone.”
Nathaniel Witt said one of the suspects looked very similar to the man who tried to break in earlier in the week.
“Wasn’t using his right arm, which was the one that I slammed in the door,” he explained. “Partially wonder if it might have been retribution for the pain I caused him.”
As they try to figure out who targeted their home, they’re dealing with even more loss.
The family’s cat, Zoey, died from smoke inhalation. Their other cat, Lexi, was burned. They are still searching for Lily, who is a gray, white, and orange calico mix.
“She is my beloved baby,” Emily Witt said.
The couple is staying with relatives as they hope for a break in the case.
“We are looking for these people,” she said. “We don’t want this to happen to anybody else. This is truly a nightmare for our family to go through. Now we just don’t feel safe in a place we used to call home.”
The family hopes anyone with information about the crime will immediately report it to police.
They say their missing cat, Lily, is microchipped. If found, they ask that you take her to a shelter to be scanned.
