The man accused in two Southside fire investigations will have both cases sent to a grand jury after Judge William Bell jr. ruled Tuesday that prosecutors presented enough evidence during a preliminary hearing.
Joshua Mitchell is charged with attempted second-degree arson and second-degree arson in connection with fires reported early Oct. 31 at Birmingham Treehouse Yoga and Big Escape Games in Birmingham’s Southside. Several fires were reported in the area that day, but Mitchell is only charged in connection with these two.
During the hearing, Birmingham police Detective Steven Wallace testified that the owner of Birmingham Treehouse told investigators she had seen a person she believed to be Mitchell on surveillance cameras several times in the days leading up to the fire. She later found a burn spot in the building’s crawl space. Wallace said video from the property early that morning showed a person investigators believe to be Mitchell near the building appearing to try to start a fire. ATF agents collected samples from the small burn pile in the crawl space that appeared to contain a substance similar to fertilizer…