Mid-Missouri resident Drew Buersmeyer took the stand Thursday in the trial against Kurt Steidley, who is accused of setting a fire that heavily damaged his business, Everhart's Sporting Goods.
Buersmeyer, a Westphalia man now living in Jefferson City, had purchased items at Everhart's as he was trying to set up his own business. Before Everhart's December 2010 closing, Buersmeyer quarrelled with the store manager over a safe on which he had made a down-payment for purchase.
He told the jury the quarrel happened when he returned to complete the purchase and take the safe home, but the store manager said the safe already had been sold.
Buersmeyer said the manager wasn't going to give him back the money he had put down, and he and the manager talked for several hours before Buersmeyer's money was returned.
In Steidley's January 2014 trial, Buersmeyer testified he did not know Steidley, who told investigators a disgruntled customer named Drew may have hit him on the head on the evening of Jan. 1, while he was at the business before the fire occurred.
When asked where he was the day of the fire, Buersmeyer said he had spent the early part of the day in Fulton where he had been picked up for a DWI. He later was taken by relatives back to Osage County for a family holiday dinner.
Prosecutor Mark Richardson asked Buersmeyer Thursday when he learned Steidley had accused him, and Buersmeyer said it wasn't until near the time of the first trial.
"I was baffled by it," Buersmeyer said. "I got my $100 back and I left with no bad feelings."
Chris Slusher, Steidley's attorney, told the jury during Tuesday's opening statements that investigators had not focused enough on Buersmeyer as a suspect for the fire.
Slusher questioned Buersmeyer about an interview with ATF officials not long after the fire, and asked if Buersmeyer recalled the agents telling him they had video from a gas station before the fire occurred, showing Buersmeyer driving his truck with a gas can on the back.
Buersmeyer said they did ask him about that, but only in passing and were more concerned about guns he was trying to sell.
"Do you recall stopping by Staples, next to Everhart's, after the fire and talking to employees there?" Slusher asked.
"Yes," replied Buersmeyer.
"Do you recall saying wouldn't it be funny if they blamed the manager for the fire?"
"No, I don't recall saying that," Buersmeyer said.
Buersmeyer's aunt, Kathy Johannesmeyer, testified Thursday afternoon her husband's family celebrated Christmas on New Year's Day 2011 in Freeburg, that Buersmeyer arrived between 4 and 4:30 p.m. and stayed with the family all evening, then spent the night at her house in Westphalia.
The fire was reported at 7:45 p.m. that Saturday.
But, Slusher asked, didn't she tell him during a deposition that the Christmas celebration had been on New Year's Eve - the day before the fire?
"My family gets together at Christmas," Johannesmeyer testified. "My husband's family gets together on New Year's Eve or New Year's Day - it depends on the year (and) on what the kids are doing."
She said Buersmeyer was having trouble with his parents, including a dispute over credit cards.
Jeff Lister, who managed Everhart's from 2006 until it closed, told Slusher that Buersmeyer used "some large quantities of cash" for some purchases and credit cards for others.
State Fire Marshal's Investigator Scott Stoneberger told Richardson that Steidley reported Buersmeyer had spent between $20,000 and $30,000 on purchases from Everhart's - but still owed $16,000.
Stoneberger also reported investigators believed the fire was set on the floor underneath shelves containing some of the store's business records.
The trial resumes this morning at 9 a.m.