The Hays Police Department received a call of a structure fire in the 700 blk of East 6th Street on June 21, 2012 around 5:3o p.m.  Emergency units from the Hays Police Department, Hays Fire Department, and Ellis County Emergency Medical Service responded to the scene and located a fire inside a trailer house, which was quickly brought under control by the Hays Fire Department.

Raul Miranda Payares, 48, was located inside the trailer and he had been critically injured by the fire.   Payares was treated by the Ellis County EMS and immediately life-watched to Via Christi Medical Center in Wichita. Payares died on Friday, June 22, as a result of his injuries sustained in the fire.

The circumstances surrounding Mr. Payares death are currently under investigation by the Ellis County Coroners Office, Hays Police Department, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, and the Office of the Kansas State Fire Marshal. An initial investigation indicates that Mr. Payares intentionally set himself on fire in an effort to take his own life.

Mr. Payares family has been notified of his death.