Wagoner County investigators arrest man for murder, arson following 2023 death of his grandfather

Wagoner County investigators arrested Joshua Headrick for first-degree murder and first-degree arson after he told police last Friday he was responsible for starting a fire that killed his grandfather in March 2023.

On March 19, 2023, Wagoner County deputies were called to East 86th Street South and South 273rd East Avenue in Broken Arrow about a structure fire.

Once deputies got to the scene, Broken Arrow Fire said there was a dead person, later identified as Headrick’s grandfather, inside the house.

Deputies, with assistance from the Oklahoma State Fire Marshals Office, determined there wasn’t enough evidence to charge anyone with a crime and the case was assigned to the Wagoner County Criminal Investigations Division for further investigation.

Last Friday, investigators got a call from Headrick who said he was responsible for the fire that killed his grandfather.

“We had a fire that Broken Arrow Fire advised us of, they originally just needed us there for assistance for traffic control, but once we got there we were advised there was a body in the house,” said Jake Carey, an investigator with Wagoner County Sheriff’s Office.

“At the time after investigation, we had some leads but not nearly enough evidence to come to any real conclusions, then fast forward to about a week ago Friday I got a call in the office from one of the people that we had suspected at the time and he said that he had been rattled with guilt,” Carey continued.

Investigators met with Headrick and determined through a formal interview that there was enough probable cause to arrest him for first-degree murder and first-degree arson.

“He’d been dealing with guilt for a long time, the anniversary was in March and when the anniversary happened he said he just got to the point he could no longer hold it in so he had to call and confess to somebody,” Carey said.

Carey said for someone to randomly confess after a year is a rare thing.

“It’s very rare that that happens, we do see a lot of people that deal with guilt and then ultimately do confess, but something like this after a year’s time, just completely out of the blue, it is very rare that it happens like that,” he said.

“You can almost tell in his voice that he was completely relieved,” Carey also said.

Headrick was taken into custody and booked with no bond into the Wagoner County Detention Center.