Police consider criminal charges in fatal Troy fire, search warrants reveal
Authorities are considering first-degree murder and other criminal charges in connection with an April 5 explosion and fire at a rural Troy home that killed three people under 20.
That’s according to multiple documents filed in Madison County Circuit Court this week, including three requests for search warrants that were granted by a judge last month.
Madison County Sheriff’s Office investigators searched the badly damaged home, outbuildings and vehicles at 8004 W. Kirsch Road, where the explosion occurred; the cellphone of 21-year-old Colton Cissell, who was injured in the fire; and video, audio and other data from a Blink home-security system.
“I have set forth only the facts that I believe are necessary to establish probable cause to believe that evidence of a First Degree Murder, Involuntary Manslaughter (or) Aggravated Arson has occurred,” Detective Jacob Svoboda wrote in an April 14 affidavit attached to the request for the last of the search warrants.
Evidence recovery logs show that investigators seized about 50 items, including cardboard tubes and containers, wires, plastic and “fusing system pieces,” relays, mesh screens, mold trays, a melted bucket, a wooden push rod, powders and receipts.
The three people who died in the fire were Madeleine I. Maxeiner, 18, of Troy, Cissell’s stepsister; Ayden R. Hendrickson, 19, of Collinsville; and Paisley Nishwitz, 12, of Troy.
Cissell had been granted short-term guardianship of Paisley, according to a statement Illinois Department of Children and Family Services provided to the Troy Times Tribune.
Hendrickson’s parents told KSDK he was staying at the home with his girlfriend and her family.
Affidavits accompanying the three requests for search warrants provide newly released details about what happened before, during and after the deadly explosion and fire.
Once on scene, sheriff’s deputies contacted Colton Cissell’s father, Kenneth Cissell, 48, and stepmother, Roberta Cissell, 43, Maxeiner’s mother, who were renting the two-story frame home. They reportedly heard a “loud boom” from their bedroom before the fire started.
“Kenneth and Roberta advised they escaped through their bedroom window and when they got outside they located Colton Cissell outside with severe burns and injuries,” the affidavits state. “Kenneth and Roberta advised Colton told them he was sorry.”
Roberta Cissell told deputies that Colton Cissell made Tannerite “bombs,” also referred to as “explosives,” and that he was in a club that manufactures fireworks, the affidavits stated.
Last month, the sheriff’s office reported that the fire was caused by multiple explosions and that the initial one was “due to the mishandling of commercial-grade energetic material.”
As of Thursday afternoon, no criminal charges had been filed against Colton Cissell, Kenneth Cissell or Roberta Cissell in Madison County in relation to the explosion.
Sheriff’s detectives requested a search warrant for the home, outbuildings and vehicles on April 6, the day after the fire; for Colton Cissell’s cellphone on April 13; and for the home-security system on April 14.
Below are investigative details in the requests for search warrants, affidavits and other court documents filed Monday:
- Sheriff’s deputies, Troy Fire Department and other police and fire agencies were dispatched to the Cissell home at 11:14 p.m. Sunday, April 5, in reference to a large explosion and residential fire.
- While talking to Kenneth and Roberta Cissell, police learned that Maxeiner, Hendrickson and Paisley were believed to be still in the home. All three were later found dead.
- Police also met with Dennis Grapperhaus, 61, who owns the home that the Cissells rented and lives next door. He heard a loud explosion, looked outside and saw Colton Cissell near his white Ford F-250 truck.
- When Grapperhaus and Colton Cissell interacted, Cissell was holding a iPhone he had used to call 911.
- Grapperhaus told police that Colton Cissell was known to make Tannerite explosives in the garage.
- Containers inside an enclosed white trailer and shed had markings indicating that they contained energetic materials and precursors to energetic materials.
- Police called in the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and Illinois Secretary of State Bomb Squad to secure the area.
- Police observed a tan Buick LaSabre, also registered to Colton Cissell, which contained cardboard tubes and other possible explosive-making materials in plain view.
- Detectives met with Colton Cissell at the hospital, and he admitted to using a laser cutter near where he stored explosives.
- During processing of the scene, investigators determined that Colton Cissell received almost daily deliveries of packages with materials used to make explosives.
- Investigators found the burned remains of a Blink camera on the grounds. It formerly had been affixed to the home.
Earlier this month, Madeleine Maxeiner’s father, Robert Maxeiner, filed a wrongful death lawsuit in Madison County Circuit Court against Roberta Cissell, his ex-wife; Kenneth Cissell and Colton Cissell; and Grapperhaus. Madeleine Maxeiner lived with her mother.
The civil lawsuit alleges that the Cissells kept dangerous, federally regulated explosives at the house without required permits or licenses, stored them improperly and failed to maintain fire precautions, including working smoke detectors.
Grapperhaus was named as a defendant because he “knew or should have known” explosives were being stored on his property and he was responsible for equipping the house with smoke detectors, according to the lawsuit.
This story was originally published May 15, 2026 at 6:00 AM.
