Apr. 22, 2026 3:15p
(WGTD)---The father of the three children who died in Kenosha's Thanksgiving night fire last year has been charged with three counts of neglecting a child which results in death.
39 year-old Joshua Kannin's first court appearance has been scheduled for May 14th.
According to the criminal complaint, no smoke detectors were present when a fire broke out on or near the town home's gas stovetop that was normally covered with clutter. Investigators theorize that the defendant's two boys, ages 10 and 9, may have gone downstairs to cook noodles after Kannin went to his bedroom with his 7 year-old daughter. They noted that one of the stovetop's four burners had been in the 'on' position.
Kannin told investigators he was awakened either by smoke or by one of his cats. He said he went downstairs and discovered a "little fire on the kitchen floor." Instead of alerting his children, Kannin said he panicked and ran outside to get help, returning to the apartment to find a large volume of smoke which prevented him from going upstairs to rescue his children. "I opened the door and I heard my kids. I tried to go back in, but smoke just came at me and I couldn't see," he said.
The first police officer on the scene was driven back from both entrances to the apartment by smoke and flames.
The alarm came in at 10:39 p.m. 12 minutes later, firefighters found the girl in an upstairs bedroom between a mattress and a closet door. She died the next day. The bodies of the two boys were found in the dining room.
In a series of interviews, Kannin admitted to removing a second-floor smoke detector saying it had sounded false alarms and was annoying. Investigators found a spot on a first floor wall where they believed a second smoke detector had once been mounted but the complaint offers no conclusion as to what might've happened to that device.
The apartment manager told investigators that Kannin in the past had refused entry to apartment staff who had wanted to perform maintenance and routine inspections. Kannin was in the process of being evicted.
If convicted as charged, Kannin could face up to 25 years in prison on each count.
-0-