room floor and a bottle of charcoal lighter fluid found on the kitchen counter. Both items were out of place, she insisted. A gas can was kept on the back porch for the lawn mower, and the bottle of lighter fluid was normally kept next to the grill on the back patio.
According to Liz, “Cari” had set the fire, intending to murder her and her children. She had proof, a threatening email that she now pulled up on her phone and showed to the Chief. It had been sent at 12:56 A.M., about six hours before Liz opened the front door to find her home thick with smoke.
Nasty whore, Dave doesn’t want you talking to him anymore. He wants to be with me. We are trying a new relationship. We have had sex recently. He loves me and always will. He doesn’t want you back, you nasty, fat, whore, Liz. Hope you and your kids burn to death.
The last line of the email was “a red flag,” as far as the investigator was concerned. He took a photo of the email and began his comprehensive evaluation of the scene. The rules of fire investigation are orderly and strictly followed. To avoid cross-contamination, all equipment is thoroughly cleaned after each incident, and disposable items are not reused. A fresh pair of gloves is donned before each piece of new evidence is examined. Everything is photographically documented. Rooms are shot from various angles, and each step of the evidence-collecting process is recorded as proof that protocol was followed. Even the discarded gloves are photographed to show that the investigator did indeed wear new gloves before handling evidence.
Investigators measure depth of char and examine fire patterns to identify areas of origin. One indicator is known as a flash point. “We use that to describe an area where potential accelerant may have been, and it flashed, burning off the gas from the accelerant, but did not burn long enough for the surrounding combustible materials to start consuming themselves and continuing combustion.”
McClanahan explains that when it comes to examining a burned structure, he first looks at the areas where there is the least amount of damage, and ends by scrutinizing those with the most damage. With Liz’s house, “We started with the exterior of the structure where there was virtually no damage and moved to the interior towards the basement.”
Absorbable gauze is used to extract liquids from vessels holding possible accelerants. McClanahan took samples from the gas container on the living room floor and also from the bottle of charcoal lighter fluid, leaving the containers themselves behind. Each piece of gauze is first removed from an individual sterilized package before it’s dipped into the vessel holding the questionable liquid. After it soaks up some of the liquid, the gauze is placed in a sealed metal container, labeled, and later sent to the lab for testing.
McClanahan identified six separate areas where fire originated in Liz’s house. All were in the vicinity of the basement. One was on the staircase leading to the basement—the third step from the bottom. Another was on the threshold of the door leading to the garage. Two piles of clothing in the laundry room were also determined to be places where fires originated. In addition, McClanahan found that the two couches, noted earlier by Sidener, were also areas of origin.
There was no question that this was an intentionally set fire, but the arsonist was obviously an amateur. Because all of the windows in the house had been shut, the fire was starved for oxygen and quickly squelched.
Dave was at work at Hyatt Tire when he answered Liz’s frantic phone call. “She was distressed, upset, telling me her house is on fire, and there are fire trucks there. I was at work, and it was very, very busy. She asked me to come over.” He was hesitant to leave work when it was so busy but felt guilty when Liz told him “Cari” had set the fire. When things slowed down a little, he left for a while to check on Liz. Three or four firetrucks were parked on the street, and he saw “fire hoses all over the place” as firefighters entered and exited the house. “Liz was standing in the middle of the road, crying.” She was a forlorn figure, all alone, staring at her house as tears streamed down her cheeks. Dave put his arm around her and tried to comfort her.
It’s all gone, she told him, hopelessly. She had