perfunctory assessment of the damage screamed arson. The suspicions were relayed to dispatch, and Battalion Chief Michael Shane McClanahan was sent to investigate. By the summer of 2013, he’d been with the Omaha Fire Department for seventeen years, and had spent the last four assigned to the Fire Investigation Unit. McClanahan’s extensive education includes a degree in fire science, intense studies with the National Fire Academy, and multiple courses related to the forensics of fire.
McClanahan must determine the source of each fire he investigates, assigning a cause from one of four classifications—incendiary (intentional), accidental, undetermined, and natural. An accidental cause could be an electrical malfunction, while a natural cause might be a lightning strike. Incendiary fires are deliberately set, and when an investigator cannot identify a fire as accidental, natural, or incendiary, it is classified as undetermined.
Chief McClanahan arrived on the scene at 8:37 that Saturday morning. After he was briefed by the commander on duty, he “did a quick walk-through of the structure to familiarize myself with the layout and what was inside.” Most of the smoke had cleared, and the structure had cooled, so no protective gear was necessary on this day. With a notebook and pen in hand, he made notes on everything that stood out, paying particular attention to burn patterns.
The Chief noted that heavy soot covered everything on the main level of the house but that he saw no signs of thermal damage—damage resulting from intense heat—on that floor. “As I moved to the basement of the structure, the smoke damage became heavier, and I found multiple points of origin,” he recalls. The basement also showed signs of thermal damage. An aquarium, holding the deceased snake, sat on a desk, and the structural framing of the container had “been degraded and warped due to the heat damage, and the glass of the aquarium was actually cracked and broken.”
Liz still waited, and she soon joined the Chief in his vehicle for an interview.
She sat beside him and shared her tragic story. She explained that she was in the process of moving to a friend’s house in Council Bluffs, but she failed to mention the fact she’d been evicted. She said that she’d stopped by the house the day before, sometime between 1 and 3 P.M., to collect some things for herself and the kids. She confirmed that the big garage door had been unlocked at that time, but that she was certain she had locked the door that led to the house, as well as all the other exterior doors.
After arriving that morning between 7:30 and 8:00, “She stated that she went to the front door, unlocked it, opened the door and encountered a large volume of smoke, immediately shut the door and called 911.”
Liz told the frightening tale of the woman so insanely jealous that she’d stop at nothing to destroy her and win the love of David Kroupa. She handed McClanahan a business card for Detective Prencer, explaining that the OPD had been working with her to catch “Cari.”
McClanahan asked Liz standard questions and took careful notes. How many sets of house keys did she have? “She stated two, one that she possessed and one that her daughter possessed. She then told me there were originally three sets of keys to the house. The locks had been changed by the owner of the house, the Omaha Housing Authority, sometime near the end of 2012 or the beginning of 2013, when she had reported the stalking incidents. They changed the locks for her, and she was given three sets of keys at that time. Shortly after receiving the three sets, she stated, one of those sets came up missing.”
Did any of the residents smoke? Had anyone lit candles or incense? She confirmed that while her boyfriend, Dave, did smoke, it was always outside because she didn’t allow smoking in the house. No one had recently lit candles or incense.
The investigator asked about recent utility work or remodeling that might have been done in the home. Liz told him that other than some plumbing repairs ordered by the home’s owners, there had been no recent work on the house.
When McClanahan inquired about the home’s utilities, “She stated that she had the power turned off on Wednesday,” August 14, but that the gas and water were still on. Liz didn’t mention that the electric company had turned off the power because she’d failed to pay the bill.
She also answered questions about the gasoline container on the living