Manslaughter indictments in Winchester apartment fire

A Clark County grand jury has indicted the father of one of three people who died after a March 11 apartment fire in Winchester.

Jackie Hisle Jr., 55, was indicted Thursday on three counts of second-degree manslaughter. Hisle’s son, Donald, 36, and Tina Reynolds, 29, died of smoke inhalation. Dixie Everman, 71, also died of smoke inhalation and blunt-force trauma after she jumped from a second-story window.

The indictment charged Jackie Hisle with manslaughter when “he wantonly caused” the deaths of the three people.

The fire started in Jackie Hisle’s apartment as he was drinking and smoking a cigarette near an oxygen machine that had labels warning that no smoking was to occur near it, Winchester police Detective Tom Beall testified at a March preliminary hearing. Beall is listed as the witness who went before the grand jury.

Jackie Hisle tried to put out the fire with a pillow and a blanket but was unable to keep it contained, Beall testified during the preliminary hearing. Hisle also went to a neighboring apartment to warn residents about the fire, Beall said.

Jackie Hisle told police that his son, Donald, had passed out near a sofa/pull-out bed in the living room. Donald Hisle’s body was found in a rear bedroom.

Other residents in the B&P Apartments complex had warned Jackie Hisle not to smoke near the machine because they knew him “to be a bad alcoholic,” Beall said.

Two civil lawsuits filed in Clark Circuit Court allege negligence and dangerous conditions at the apartment complex.

Both lawsuits name as defendants B&P Apartments Inc., the company that owned the building, and Jackie Hisle Jr.

James Tackett of Bourbon County, who owns the apartment complex with his wife, Kathy, said on the day of the fire that each unit is equipped with a smoke detector.

Second-degree manslaughter is a felony punishable by five to 10 years in prison. Jackie Hisle remains in the Clark County jail in lieu of a $1 million bond.

This story was originally published May 6, 2016 at 1:32 PM with the headline "Manslaughter indictments in Winchester apartment fire."