Arson investigators have few leads in Thanksgiving 1996 fire

Karen Zekan

Friday, Nov. 27, 1998 | 11:16 a.m.

For two years now, a set of handcuffs have remained empty -- shackles meant for the arsonist who may well have unintentionally taken 66 little lives on Thanksgiving weekend 1996.

Some had homes and families who loved them, others were under veterinary care or awaiting adoption. Yet in less than an hour enough smoke filled the Animal Clinic of St. Francis to kill 64 cats and two dogs as they waited out the Thanksgiving holiday weekend inside the small business at 569 E. Twain Ave.

The arsonist may not have considered the strip mall's attic ventilation system when he struck the first match to the flammable liquid he'd splashed in at least 10 spots inside the Alias Smith & Jones restaurant on the opposite end of the stucco and tile complex, more than 100 yards away.

Within seconds the restaurant went up in flames, reducing the tables, booths and kitchen to charred rubble. And, as it burned in the early morning hours of Nov. 29, 1996, smoke pumped east through the overhead passageway and into the lungs of the kenneled animals doors away.

It proved a holiday of heartache for veterinarian Alan Isquith and his team who ran the clinic, who had to deliver to families the news that the animals they boarded would not be coming home.

Today, the Alias Smith & Jones case remains one of three proverbial "thorns" paining arson investigators. It is the third restaurant fire on the books that screams arson, yet to this day remains open without a suspect in custody.

The other two -- the Chinese Garden at 5485 W. Sahara Ave., which burned down June 18, 1996, and Fratelli's Ristorante, 3501 E. Tropicana Ave., gutted April 27, 1997 -- shared an interesting similarity to Alias Smith & Jones. Records reflect that each restaurant had been damaged by previous fires mysteriously set.

"Those are the three that have bugged us the most," said Mike Patterson Clark County Fire Department's chief fire investigator. The cases also still plague the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

The fires preceding the ultimate gutting of Alias Smith & Jones were ignited in the early morning hours Nov. 10 and Nov. 15, 1996, before employees arrived.

Patterson said that in addition to county fire's efforts, ATF conducted its own interviews and background checks and inspected the scene. The bureau additionally had numerous meetings with the restaurant's insurance companies.

Patterson said investigators hope the phone will ring one day with the tip they need, or that the person responsible will somehow let the secret of his or her involvement slip.

"Someone usually overhears someone else talking about where they were or what they'd done -- that's usually what happens," he said. "but that's one of 400 fires we go to a year. They are important, but we've also got others to work on."