KINGMAN – A judge has refused to lower the 1-million dollar bond for a former Hutchinson area police instructor accused of killing his wife and setting fire to their southern Kansas home.

KAKE-TV 10 reports that 35-year old Brett Seacat made a brief court appearance Friday and will have a preliminary hearing Nov. 29.

He’s charged with first-degree murder in the death of his 34-year-old wife, Vashti Seacat, whose body was found April 30 inside their Kingman home. He also faces charges of aggravated arson and two counts of endangering a child.

The former Sedgwick County sheriff’s deputy taught officers at the Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center near Yoder, where he taught child abuse and neglect, serious offenses and fatalities, traffic enforcement, collision investigation, prisoner transport, cultural awareness, officer survival, SFST and defensive tactics.

Seacat and the couple’s two sons, ages 2 and 4, made it out of the house. Vashti Seacat filed for divorce 16 days before she died.