Russell John Tully was investigated by police in connection with a suspicious fire of a Marlborough Department of Conservation hut in the months before the Ashburton Work and Income shooting - but no evidence was found linking him to the blaze.
Tully was yesterday found guilty by a jury of being the masked gunman who stormed the Ashburton Winz centre on September 1, 2014 and shot dead receptionist Peggy Noble, 67, and case manager Susan Leigh Cleveland, 55.
Three months before the shooting rampage, DoC's Pine Valley hut in Mt Richmond Forest Park was burnt to the ground.
Trampers found the charred remains of the 48-year-old six-bunk hut on June 13, 2014.
It was reported to police, who investigated.
Tully was known to have been sleeping rough in the area at the time.