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on a bitter cold night a family home
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went up in Flames killing one man and
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leaving a second person
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injured a witness blamed a kerosene
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heater local investigators suspected
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arson forensic science was needed to
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sort through the
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contradictions was this an accid
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or cold blooded murder
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[Music]
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the weather in Jackson Georgia is
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usually warm most of the
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year but in January of 2003 there was an
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unusual cold snap with temperatures
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below
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freezing Citrus Growers used kerosene
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heaters to save their orange
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crop and Jean and Jim long used a
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kerosene heater in the workshop of their
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home so the pipes wouldn't freeze but
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something went terribly
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wrong when fireman arrived the house was
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totally Ablaze Jean long had escaped the
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fire but her husband Jim was trapped
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inside my father-in-law came to the door
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to wake us he said
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that he said there's a fire at your
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dad's house and it's
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bad and it was Eng Gul in
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blanks very shocking
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moment firemen searched the area around
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the home but there was no sign that Jim
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had
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escaped I just thought my dad would come
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walking out
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but
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no the Long's home was attached to a
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workshop Jim used to store the equipment
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for his tree trimming business it too
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was on fire
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after the fire was put out the
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firefighters cut through the metal
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siding they found the body of
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53-year-old Jim
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long almost like disbelief that was
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going on at that time just real hard to
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almost like it was a dream that you
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wanted to wake up
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from Jean was taken to the hospital
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where she was treated for minor scrapes
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and bruises one of the bruises was was
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on her
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chin she told police that her husband
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tried to fill their kerosene heater with
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fuel and then there was an explosion he
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was covered in Flames she tried to put
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the fire out with her hands her gloves
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caught
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fire in a panic Jean said she ran from
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the workshop into their home to call the
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fire
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department at the fire scene
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investigators found the remnants of the
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kerosene
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heater but the plastic fuel can was
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found outside the workshop door in
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perfect condition inconsistent with
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Jean's
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story and major Mike over believed that
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the position of Jim's Body was
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inconsistent with most fire victims and
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it appeared that his legs were
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outstretched and his arms were above his
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head it appeared to me the way someone
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would be positioned if they had been
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dragged into a particular spot or
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carried that was the first thing that I
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noticed that they were not in a fetal
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type position that that you see um in
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fires in addition Overby found Visual
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Evidence of poor patterns around Jim's
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Body the type of patterns which result
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from the use of an accelerant that to
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him suggested that James long had been
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lying on the floor
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and gasoline or an accelerant had been
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poured over him intentionally and he had
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been set a
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fire and Jim's autopsy revealed even
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more
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evidence that he was
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unconscious before the fire started
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[Music]
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during Jim Long's autopsy the medical
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examiner found something suspicious
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there wasn't as much dirt soot and smoke
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damage in his lungs as one would expect
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in a fire victim Mr long did not have
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enough of a chemicals that are found in
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the blood after a person dies of smoke
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inhalation for that to have caused his
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death he had breathed some smoke he had
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soot in his throat but he had not
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breathed enough smoke to kill him and
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Jim also suffered a fractured
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skull Dr Bill bass a world famous
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forensic anthropologist at the
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University of Tennessee was asked for
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his opinion we have three fractures
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irradiating out from the same Source The
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Source being the hole that is in the
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skull that is an indication that there's
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been blunt force trauma there is not due
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to the fire the cause of death was
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determined to be thermal injuries and
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blunt force head trauma his death was
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listed as a
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homicide so you're behind homicide
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investigator major Michael Overby asked
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Jean long to explain what happened on
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the night of the
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fire Jean said her husband was filling
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the heater with kerosene when it
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exploded you said that he relid it
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inside well he didn't reely that he
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would ref fuel in it he was putting fuel
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in it with what a
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kerosene with what container it
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was yet the red plastic fuel can was
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found outside the
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workshop all right how did it get back
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outside I don't
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know and over be noticed the Jim's arms
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and legs were outstretched when he was
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found underneath Jim's Body were several
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aerosol
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cans there was one under his head there
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was one under his right leg and another
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one up under his
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back and that appeared odd that
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appeared um to me something that could
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be used to accelerate the damage of the
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body in a
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fire patterns on the concrete floor
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around the body were also
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suspicious these are called pore
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patterns right right here absolutely
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nothing else on the planet makes these
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marks
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nothing this is what it leaves
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especially in concrete when an
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accelerant such as gasoline is poured on
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something you know what I
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mean Jean also said she called the fire
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department from a phone in the house but
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investigators found the outside door was
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locked if Jean locked it on her way out
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police saw this as evidence that she was
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in no hurry to save her husband her
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husband is on fire burning in this
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building she runs outside but she locks
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the door behind
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her see to me that's very
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important you think a jury's going to
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buy
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this I can tell you right now they
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won't major Overby asked Jean to take a
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polygraph test and she agreed she was
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asked Point Blank if she poured her
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husband with gasoline set him on fire
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she failed that question she failed if
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she was present when he was
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murdered investigators discovered that
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Jim was angry with his wife for spending
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so much time in Kansas each year
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visiting
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relatives there were also rumors that
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Jim may have been planning to leave
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Jean major Overby believes on the night
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night of the fire the couple may have
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been discussing a divorce which prompted
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an argument it's our theory that there
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was a domestic situation between Mr long
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and his
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wife um I believe that the abrasion on
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her chin came from him possibly slapping
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her and his skull fractures I believe
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was a result of her striking him in the
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head with some hard
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object over be believed
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Jean poured an accelerant on Jim set him
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on fire then inadvertently carried the
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fuel can out of the workshop when she
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left to call for help I felt like it was
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a strong circumstantial case felt like
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we had eliminated any other reasonable
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hypothesis for this
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death the day after her husband's
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funeral Jean long was charged with arson
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and Murder She didn't seem shock
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she made no statement at the
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time she acted like she was expecting
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it Jean told her lawyers there was an
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explosion in that workshop and that
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there must be evidence in the Ashes to
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prove
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[Music]
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it Jean Long's family hired defense
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attorneys Wade crumblyy and Barbara moon
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for what they feared would be a long
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difficult
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trial Barbara Moon met with Jean in the
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county jail she was a very broken woman
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started just twiddling her hands and
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shaking unbelievably I thought she was
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very genuine and I believed in her it's
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just that
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simple a week later Jean's Church
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managed to raise the money for her
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bail Jean's family insisted that her
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marriage to Jim was a happy
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one Jim's daughter from a previous
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marriage agreed I was glad he met
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somebody and that he was happy and that
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he wasn't going to be alone every time
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you seen Jim you seen Jean seen one you
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seen both of them they went everywhere
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together and Jean had no Financial
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motive Jim's life insurance amounted to
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less than
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$40,000 but local prosecutors were
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convinced this was an open and shut case
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her theory was she saw the opportunity
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to get rid of him and Port him and lit
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it and then made it seem or tried to
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tell everyone that it was an
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accident the defense asked John lentini
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a nationally known fire investigator for
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his opinion with respect to the quality
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of the fire investigation it ranks up
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there with the worst that I have ever
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seen and I have seen a lot of bad fire
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investigations in my day this was over
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the
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top local investigators suspected
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accelerance had been used to start the
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fire but lentini discovered that the
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workshop housed containers of fuel for
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Jim's tree trimming equipment in this
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shop we had vehicles and we had tanks of
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acetylene we had tanks of propane we had
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containers of liquid fuels he had
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chainsaws in there
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lots of papers clothing lots of
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combustibles and when it went up it just
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really went
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up and lentini disputed police claims
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that there were Poe patterns around
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Jim's
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Body he said the heat of the fire made
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such a determination
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impossible once you get to full room
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involvement you're going to get all
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kinds of patterns that are easily
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misinterpreted it happens all the time
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I've created them by mistake uh I've
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created them on
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purpose the homicide investigator
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thought that the position of Jim's Body
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was
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suspicious we felt like from the very
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beginning based on the way he was laying
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on his back with his arms stretched over
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his head and his legs straight out that
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he had been placed
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there but jean had always contended that
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while her husband was on fire he was
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flailing
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about was it possible that the Jim
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struck his head on the metal table
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nearby causing the fractured skull and
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knocking him
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unconscious I can tell you that there is
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a blow to the side of the head that
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caused fractures now who did that
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blow or how that blow got there I can't
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tell you could he fallen on the metal
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workbench yes he could
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have lentini believes the charge of
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arson and murder had been a rush to
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judgment and that the kerosene heater
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was to blame basically what you do is
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you fill this up with kerosene or diesel
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fuel you throw a wick of some kind down
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in there what happens when you have this
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Lake of Fire down in here is you're
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generating lots and lots of soot and
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that soot coats the inside and it itself
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will catch on fire like charcoal so if
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you don't allow this thing to cool down
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sufficiently that's pretty dangerous
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in a surprising discovery gas
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chromatography of the residue inside the
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heater fuel tank identified gasoline and
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not
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kerosene it takes more heat to ignite
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kerosene gasoline ignites at very low
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temperatures the difference in
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flammability between gasoline and
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kerosene is is just tremendous and I've
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worked on a lot of fires where people
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misfuel Ker en heaters with gasoline end
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up having big fires Jean said they were
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using the heater outside before they
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moved it
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indoors since a gallon of gasoline is
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equivalent to 20 sticks of dynamite when
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Jim poured it into the hot fuel tank it
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caused an explosion just as Jean
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described the residue of gasoline inside
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that smudge pot was the physical
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evidence and Mrs Long's story was the
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eyewitness evidence it fits together and
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she couldn't have faked that
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part the fuel canister found outside the
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workshop which investigators found so
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suspicious contained kerosene proving it
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played no role in the
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fire prosecutors still believe Jean long
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murdered her husband but which version
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would the jury believe
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[Music]
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when Jean long went on trial for her
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husband's murder prosecutor showed
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jurors the videotape of Jean's
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interrogation in which she contradicted
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herself and then he fell down in this
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floor but that's what you told me Miss
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Jan I'm just I'm trying to put together
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what you said and try to make it make
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sense and it don't it doesn't make sense
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to me no it doesn't so how can you
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expect it to make sense to
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me but the defense attorneys use the
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same tape to show something
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else major Overby employed a standard
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police technique when he ended the
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interrogation and left the room with the
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tape machine still running in this
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situation a suspect will often say
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something incriminating
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[Music]
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in this
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case she said something
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else oh God help
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[Music]
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me what major Overby had hoped that
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happened I think worked against him I
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think he was in hopes that she was going
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to say something to hurt her minate
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herself and what she did she reached out
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to God and started begging for help to
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give her the strength to
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endure that hostile
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interview the defense claimed that the
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fire was
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accidental that Jim long mistakenly
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filled the hot kerosene heater with
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gasoline causing the
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explosion Jean frantically tried to put
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it out
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and when she couldn't she ran to call
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for
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help at some point Jim struck his head
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on the
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workbench which fractured his skull and
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caused his
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death the defense offered no explanation
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for why Jean locked the door on her way
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out of the house except that it was
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force of habit something she did every
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time she left the
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house Jean long herself took the stand
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in her own defense she came across as
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completely genuine terrified about the
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prospect of what she was going through
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and terrified at reliving the moment of
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what happened that
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night the jury didn't hear about the
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results of the polygraph test polygraph
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examinations are in admissible they're
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in admissible for reason uh they're not
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reliable bottom line Jean's family says
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the medic she was taking may have been a
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contributing factor she was just really
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drugged up more or less she was on the
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pills the hospital had given her to help
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her stay calm and
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to kind of take in
00:19:14
everything after 8 days of testimony the
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jury deliberated for just 3 hours before
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rendering their
00:19:23
verdict they found Jean long not guilty
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of all
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charges this case never should have been
00:19:32
brought they should
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have
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consulted an expert my training uh is in
00:19:42
violent crime interpretation and crime
00:19:44
scene um interpretation and and
00:19:49
reconstruction to this day major Overby
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doesn't agree with the verdict or with
00:19:55
John lentini's conclusions about the
00:19:57
fire I believe 100% today as I did uh
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during the trial that that she killed
00:20:06
her husband I believe that she got by
00:20:09
with murder the unanswered question to
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me would
00:20:13
be why the jury decided what they
00:20:18
decided after the trial and the not-
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guilty verdict Gan long moved out of the
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state and is trying to put her life back
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together again she's still G
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she's finally being able
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to not concentrate on the trial and
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stuff and being able to work through her
00:20:38
emotions the remnants of Jim and Jean
00:20:41
Long's house and workshop are still
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standing a reminder that forensic
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science isn't only a tool to convict the
00:20:49
guilty but to protect the innocent as
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well if I could keep this from happening
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to another family
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and so other people wouldn't have to go
00:21:01
through what we went
00:21:03
through what we need in our system of
00:21:06
justice is for the state to have proof
00:21:08
that it really is a set fire and they
00:21:10
didn't have that here wasn't a case of
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charging the wrong person with a crime
00:21:16
there was no crime at all it was an
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accident
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[Music]
00:21:30
why
00:21:32
[Music]
00:21:49
[Music]
