SAN ANTONIO – A fingerprint match and security footage led to the arrest of a San Antonio man in connection with a downtown nightclub fire, according to the suspect’s arrest warrant.
Douglas Cavender, 34, was taken into custody on Sunday and charged with arson in connection with an Oct. 27, 2025, fire reported in the 200 block of College Street, Bexar County court records show.
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Records indicate Cavender was booked into the Bexar County Adult Detention Center on a $30,000 bond. He is also facing a misdemeanor criminal trespassing charge unrelated to the October 2025 fire, which comes with an additional $1,000 bond, court records show.
‘Combustible material’
According to arson investigators, they were dispatched to the nightclub just after 10 p.m. Upon arrival, they noticed water steaming from the building.
Investigators searched for the source of the water and later found smoke in a room on the building’s fourth floor, where a fire had since smoldered on a countertop.
The fire consisted of “combustible material,” which included a sleeping bag or a comforter on top of two cans of “Sterno” or a similar-type product, according to the affidavit.
A “butane-style” torch and bottle were also found underneath the sleeping bag or comforter. Investigators said the club’s walls and ceiling were damaged by the smoke.
The fire could not have occurred without “intentional human involvement,” the arson investigator wrote in the affidavit.
Fingerprint match, security footage
Fingerprints obtained on the building’s glass doors matched Cavender’s fingerprints, the affidavit states. Investigators later recovered several liquor bottles in Cavender’s possession to confirm the fingerprint match.
Authorities said a person also recognized Cavender in the security footage as a former nightclub employee who had been fired several months before the fire.
The footage also showed Cavender walking up and down the stairwell leading to the nightclub multiple times on Oct. 27, 2025. He appeared in the footage approximately 20 minutes before fire crews responded to the scene, the affidavit states.
Cavender was also recorded walking up and down the stairwell with the liquor bottles, documents show.
According to the footage, only Cavender was seen using the stairs on the day of the fire until first responders arrived on scene.
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