00:00:05
police say that this car crash which
00:00:08
killed an elderly woman was murder and
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arson
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the driver the victim's daughter
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insisted it was an accident
00:00:17
two fire investigators came to two
00:00:20
entirely different conclusions
00:00:23
was it an accident or murder
00:00:27
you decide
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[Music]
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[Music]
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[Applause]
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[Music]
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[Music]
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omega georgia is literally a
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one-stop-light town
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surrounded by peanut farms and cotton
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fields
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on august 18 1996 a hot quiet sunday a
00:01:12
man driving down a remote country road
00:01:15
saw a woman standing on a small bridge
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waving frantically
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the woman was sheila bryan
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the sky jumped out of the car
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and he said what's the matter what's the
00:01:26
matter and i said um
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my mother's in the car in the car
00:01:32
i think the car is on fire
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the car was down in a ditch and sheila's
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82 year old mother was trapped inside
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from the bridge you could see the smoke
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coming out of the car
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the man ran to a nearby house to get
00:01:47
help
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by the time firefighters arrived
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the car was an inferno
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when the fire was put out
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they found freda weeks dead inside the
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car she had been unable to get out
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i just remember getting nauseated
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throwing up
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and the next thing i remember is
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just lots of people
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sheila told police that she and her
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mother were on their way to the local
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cemetery to visit her father's grave
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she said she was momentarily distracted
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and accidentally drove off the road into
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the ditch just before reaching the
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bridge
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it's about a 30-foot embankment which
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was very steep and when i got to the
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bottom there was a big jolt
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i was trying to get the
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car turned off and it wouldn't turn off
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somehow finally got it off
00:02:49
and the keys
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they
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dropped out of my hand because i jerked
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them and they dropped out of my hand
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i kept telling her i said i'll be right
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back i'll be right back
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sheila ran around the car to the
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passenger side door to try to get her
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mother out but the door was locked
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[Applause]
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sheila said she ran up the embankment
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and flagged down a passing vehicle
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she said when she looked down she saw
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smoke coming out of the car for the
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first time
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when police arrived
00:03:18
they noticed some irregularities
00:03:21
that car traveled about 60 feet
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down the grassy shoulder of the road
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prior to making
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a right-hand turn and traveling about 30
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feet down this embankment where it came
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to its final resting point
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perpendicular to the road in the ditch
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and then we started looking at there
00:03:39
were no skid marks there were no signs
00:03:42
in the grassy shoulder that there was an
00:03:44
abrupt
00:03:45
turn of any type
00:03:48
and the front of the vehicle showed no
00:03:50
signs of damage consistent with running
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down an embankment
00:03:55
there were no scrape marks under the
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bumper under the undercarriage the
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plastic cowling under the bumper had no
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damage to it whatsoever all signs that
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were indicative that this car traveled
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down that embankment very slowly
00:04:10
also suspicious
00:04:12
the door to the gas tank was open
00:04:15
and the gas cap was missing
00:04:18
no autopsy was performed on friday weeks
00:04:21
but the toxicology results were puzzling
00:04:25
most people who die from smoke
00:04:27
inhalation have carbon monoxide levels
00:04:29
in their blood of 45 to 85 percent
00:04:33
but the carbon monoxide level in frida's
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blood
00:04:36
was zero
00:04:38
lab results showed that there was no
00:04:39
carbon monoxide in the victim's blood
00:04:42
which could be indicative that she was
00:04:43
not alive at the time of the fire
00:04:46
if freda weeks was dead before the fire
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started
00:04:50
how did she die
00:04:57
the local sheriff's department brought
00:04:59
in outside experts to help investigate
00:05:01
the car accident and fire which killed
00:05:04
frida weeks
00:05:06
the engine and exhaust system showed
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little fire damage but the passenger
00:05:11
compartment was destroyed
00:05:14
it appeared that the fire started on the
00:05:16
floor of the driver's side because
00:05:19
investigators found burn patterns
00:05:21
consistent with the use of an accelerant
00:05:24
there are also burn patterns that
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protruded through or over the driver's
00:05:30
door threshold which could be indicative
00:05:31
that the door was open at some point
00:05:33
during the time of the fire
00:05:36
the debris inside the car was tested for
00:05:39
accelerants
00:05:40
but tests came back negative
00:05:43
it's not uncommon in arson cases
00:05:46
especially where fire departments have
00:05:48
responded put a tremendous amount of
00:05:50
water on the actual fire scene
00:05:53
the only personal items found in the car
00:05:55
were a wallet and the charred remains of
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a claw hammer
00:06:01
the possibility that the hammer might
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have been the murder weapon led
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investigators to exhume frida week's
00:06:07
body for an autopsy that's when i heard
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that they were suspicious arson
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you could have knocked me over with a
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feather
00:06:17
i mean i just could not even believe
00:06:18
where they could even come up with that
00:06:21
and the investigation angered sheila's
00:06:23
husband too mr brian became more upset
00:06:26
and made the statement that well you
00:06:28
guys need to do whatever you need to do
00:06:30
and you need to do it because there's a
00:06:32
hundred thousand dollars at stake and
00:06:34
the insurance company is not going to
00:06:36
pay until you get done with your
00:06:37
investigation
00:06:39
sheila's husband was referring to the
00:06:41
liability coverage of his car insurance
00:06:43
which he believed would pay them a
00:06:45
hundred thousand dollars for frida's
00:06:47
death
00:06:48
which kind of corresponded with the
00:06:50
amount he told us there in his driveway
00:06:54
the autopsy found no injuries consistent
00:06:57
with the use of a claw hammer
00:07:00
the surprising news was that frida's
00:07:02
lungs and nasal passages did not have
00:07:04
any soot which usually happens when
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someone is alive and breathed smoke
00:07:09
during a fire
00:07:12
the medical examiner found evidence of
00:07:15
severe coronary artery disease and
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listed the probable cause of frida's
00:07:19
death
00:07:20
as cardiac standstill
00:07:23
dr clark said that she was probably
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alive at the time of the fire and may
00:07:28
have taken one or two gasps after that
00:07:31
fire was started
00:07:33
and then
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died
00:07:35
the medical examiner did not rule the
00:07:37
death a homicide
00:07:41
nevertheless prosecutors believe that
00:07:43
the fire was deliberately set and
00:07:46
charged sheila bryan with arson and
00:07:48
murder
00:07:50
sheila pled not guilty
00:07:53
at the trial
00:07:54
prosecutors said the motive for the
00:07:56
crime was money
00:07:58
the sheila killed her mother and staged
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the crime scene to collect a death
00:08:02
benefit from her car insurance
00:08:05
i said that's ridiculous i said this is
00:08:07
something that you're required to have
00:08:09
by law to be able to drive a vehicle and
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two
00:08:14
there was no way for me to even collect
00:08:16
any money from them
00:08:18
prosecutors knew that the car insurance
00:08:21
wouldn't have paid anything after
00:08:22
frida's death
00:08:24
but believe that sheila and her husband
00:08:26
were unaware of that at the time of the
00:08:29
incident
00:08:31
to prove it prosecutors pointed to the
00:08:33
statement sheila's husband allegedly
00:08:35
made to investigators
00:08:37
was the state's position that they
00:08:39
intended
00:08:40
to collect
00:08:42
on that insurance money
00:08:43
and the reason the state thought that is
00:08:46
first because of what carlos bryant told
00:08:48
them
00:08:49
that that was their intention
00:08:51
and secondly
00:08:53
because they had hired an attorney to
00:08:55
collect the money
00:08:56
at the trial sheila took the stand in
00:08:59
her own defense her testimony however
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differed in some respects from the
00:09:03
statement she gave to police immediately
00:09:05
after the accident
00:09:07
when she got on the stand she told this
00:09:09
story about stopping
00:09:12
on the edge of the embankment and
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teetering i was sitting there and i said
00:09:18
i was going to try and get out i opened
00:09:20
the car door and i still had my seat
00:09:22
belt on when i did the car door come
00:09:24
back and hit my arm
00:09:26
and then the car rolled down the ditch
00:09:28
bank
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which was
00:09:32
not anything that she had said at the
00:09:34
time of the accident sheila first told
00:09:37
investigators that her mother showed no
00:09:40
signs of distress after the accident
00:09:43
on the witness stand she said her mother
00:09:45
wasn't responsive
00:09:48
i told mama i said i'll be back in just
00:09:51
a minute
00:09:52
she didn't respond
00:09:54
well i thought she had passed out
00:09:57
when she got on the witness stand that
00:09:59
story had changed remarkably
00:10:01
and i think it didn't ring true to those
00:10:03
jurors
00:10:05
but it was testimony
00:10:07
about the burn patterns
00:10:09
that i think sealed her fake
00:10:12
the prosecution's arson expert said
00:10:15
those burn patterns were consistent with
00:10:17
a fire started with an accelerant
00:10:20
the jury found sheila bryan
00:10:23
guilty of arson and murder
00:10:26
she was sentenced to life in prison
00:10:29
i could not believe
00:10:31
that this had actually happened i said
00:10:33
why
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why am i here
00:10:36
i don't understand
00:10:37
i even looked around for a rusty screw
00:10:41
to cut my wrist
00:10:42
i said i cannot let my
00:10:44
children be
00:10:48
exposed something like this
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the rest of their life
00:10:52
and then all of a sudden
00:10:54
something come over me
00:10:56
and i said god if i'm here to help
00:10:59
somebody then you show me
00:11:02
what you want me to do
00:11:04
and
00:11:09
and i had a piece about me after after
00:11:12
that
00:11:13
sheila's friends and supporters believed
00:11:15
in her innocence and raised funds to
00:11:18
hire an independent fire investigator to
00:11:20
look into the case
00:11:22
and the person they found
00:11:24
also happened to be an outspoken critic
00:11:27
of arson investigations
00:11:29
dr gerald hurst
00:11:32
you had a woman who had a close
00:11:34
relationship with her mother and plenty
00:11:35
of people who knew about this
00:11:37
relationship they said that the reason
00:11:39
that she had torched her mother was
00:11:41
because the mother was getting old
00:11:43
wearing a diaper and she was just too
00:11:45
much trouble
00:11:47
you see it just doesn't fit
00:11:52
it was real clear to me
00:11:54
that this case had divided that
00:11:56
community in this area
00:11:59
half believing she was guilty and half
00:12:01
believing that she was innocent
00:12:03
after sheila brian was convicted of
00:12:05
murdering her mother in a car fire
00:12:07
sheila's friends and family hired dr
00:12:10
gerald hurst to conduct an independent
00:12:12
investigation i read the original
00:12:15
investigation reports and all of the
00:12:17
police work done in connection
00:12:20
with the
00:12:21
the fire and then i read the trial
00:12:23
testimony
00:12:25
and i found that there was a lot of
00:12:28
bunko
00:12:29
involved in the prosecution
00:12:31
sheila's car was a ford hearst and his
00:12:34
colleague chris bloom quickly discovered
00:12:37
that there had been a number of
00:12:39
suspicious fires in similar ford
00:12:41
vehicles
00:12:43
the problem was the ignition switch a
00:12:46
box of electrical contacts on the
00:12:48
steering column
00:12:51
by turning the key different contacts in
00:12:54
the switch start the car and turns on
00:12:57
the electrical system
00:12:59
and it's a small little component you
00:13:01
don't normally would even think about it
00:13:02
but that little component has been the
00:13:05
source of at least alleged 8 000 fires
00:13:09
many of these cars caught fire while
00:13:11
sitting in garages and parking lots and
00:13:14
some while being driven down the road
00:13:18
in
00:13:18
1996 ford issued one of the largest car
00:13:22
recalls in history
00:13:24
a lead in the ignition switch had
00:13:26
electricity flowing through it
00:13:28
constantly a plastic box separated the
00:13:31
leads
00:13:32
but in some cases carbon buildup caused
00:13:35
the circuit to arc
00:13:37
it's creating a circuit where a circuit
00:13:38
was not designed
00:13:40
and and as a result
00:13:42
there's overheating that's occurring and
00:13:44
that overheating will result in the
00:13:46
ignition of the surrounding combustibles
00:13:48
the plastics and such
00:13:50
dr hurst and chris bloom
00:13:52
made another interesting discovery
00:13:55
the task force at the ford motor company
00:13:57
that confirmed the ignition switch
00:13:59
problem was headed by ralph newell
00:14:03
mr newell was also a fire expert and was
00:14:06
the star witness for the prosecution in
00:14:09
sheila's trial
00:14:10
i'm not
00:14:11
saying that he did anything wrong but
00:14:14
i'm saying he was under
00:14:16
heavy influence he was getting i think
00:14:19
about 150 000 a year or at least that
00:14:22
year and certain amounts in other years
00:14:25
working for ford motor company
00:14:28
the key thing i noted was that not a
00:14:30
single person
00:14:31
mentioned the ignition switch
00:14:33
in the case
00:14:34
and it didn't matter whether they said i
00:14:36
examined the ignition switch and
00:14:38
eliminated as cause i looked at the
00:14:40
ignition switch there was nothing wrong
00:14:42
there was no mention of it
00:14:45
this was particularly interesting since
00:14:47
sheila's first statement to police
00:14:49
mentioned her inability to remove her
00:14:52
car keys after the accident
00:14:55
miss brian after running off the road
00:14:57
tried to get the keys out of the
00:14:58
ignition and couldn't get the keys out
00:15:01
that indicates that they have something
00:15:03
wrong with the ignition lock or the
00:15:05
ignition switch
00:15:06
sheila's car was a 1987 ford cougar
00:15:11
but the recall
00:15:12
only went back to 1988.
00:15:15
bloom and dr hurst suspected that
00:15:18
sheila's car had the same ignition
00:15:20
switch
00:15:22
this is a recalled switch from an 88
00:15:25
ford escort the important thing to note
00:15:28
is
00:15:29
the model number on the switch when i
00:15:31
pulled the large wiring loom
00:15:34
out of the 87 cougar
00:15:36
and examined this
00:15:38
switch you can see
00:15:41
the model numbers are the same
00:15:45
but what caused the burn patterns in the
00:15:48
interior which prosecution experts said
00:15:52
was from an accelerant
00:15:55
this steering column cover and carpet
00:15:58
are from the same model and year car as
00:16:01
sheila bryan's
00:16:03
gerald hurst believes the switch inside
00:16:05
the steering column overheated and the
00:16:08
plastic cover ignited melted and dripped
00:16:11
like this one burning down through the
00:16:14
carpet like a liquid accelerant
00:16:17
now if this were in a real
00:16:19
automobile
00:16:20
you would also begin dripping the same
00:16:23
molten flaming plastic on the seat
00:16:26
which contains polyurethane foam and
00:16:28
that would take off like the proverbial
00:16:31
house of fire
00:16:33
anytime a fire consumes the interior of
00:16:36
a car
00:16:37
you're going to have masses of flammable
00:16:40
plastics that melt and flow they
00:16:43
themselves the plastics become in effect
00:16:45
liquid accelerants
00:16:49
hearst also said a gap in the door seal
00:16:52
allowed melted plastic from the seats
00:16:54
doors and dashboard to flow under the
00:16:57
door in not one but two spots
00:17:01
it was not a liquid accelerant that
00:17:03
produced it i'm quite confident it was
00:17:05
the plastic but that was of less
00:17:07
importance to me than the fact that the
00:17:09
prosecutor and all the king's horses and
00:17:12
all the king's men would not be able to
00:17:14
produce that pattern with gasoline
00:17:16
the information should have been
00:17:18
presented to the jury
00:17:19
hey this is a known problem
00:17:22
that it's a rare problem but it's a
00:17:23
known problem that catches fire
00:17:27
after 10 months in prison
00:17:29
the georgia supreme court unanimously
00:17:32
voted to overturn sheila's conviction
00:17:36
the court stated the testimony that
00:17:38
inferred there was an insurance motive
00:17:41
was improper
00:17:43
and any financial motive was tenuous at
00:17:46
best
00:17:48
i immediately got on my knees and prayed
00:17:50
and thank god for for that
00:17:52
because that just does not happen
00:17:55
it does not happen
00:17:57
in the length of time for me to even get
00:18:00
an appeal
00:18:02
usually people stay in there for years
00:18:04
and years before they even get an appeal
00:18:08
so i was very well blessed with that
00:18:11
just as sheila was released from prison
00:18:14
she had another surprise
00:18:17
prosecutors for the state of georgia
00:18:19
said they would try her again for murder
00:18:22
and arson
00:18:24
due to extensive publicity the second
00:18:26
trial would be held in neighboring
00:18:28
thomas county
00:18:30
and it was quite naturally a battle of
00:18:32
the experts
00:18:34
but which experts
00:18:37
would the jury believe
00:18:43
converse wright was the new defense
00:18:46
attorney representing sheila bryan at
00:18:48
her second murder trial
00:18:50
there was no trauma involved and the
00:18:53
blood
00:18:54
test
00:18:55
and the autopsy showed that this lady
00:18:57
was dead before the fire started most
00:19:00
likely by a heart attack
00:19:02
if the jury
00:19:04
accepted that then that would that ended
00:19:06
the case right there
00:19:08
but the cause of the fire was again the
00:19:11
prosecution's focus claiming sheila
00:19:14
brian had set the car fire by pouring
00:19:17
and lighting some type of liquid
00:19:19
accelerant
00:19:20
it either came out of the tank or she
00:19:22
brought it there there's no container
00:19:25
found
00:19:26
there's no instrument
00:19:28
like a siphon or whatever
00:19:31
this time sheila's defense relied on dr
00:19:35
hurst's opinion for what caused the
00:19:37
deadly fire
00:19:38
an expert witness in a case
00:19:40
performs several functions obviously he
00:19:43
testifies and gives expert opinion he
00:19:45
also can help prepare cross-examination
00:19:48
by pointing out
00:19:51
fallacies and foibles in the other
00:19:53
side's position
00:19:55
ralph newell the prosecution's star
00:19:58
witness in the first trial admitted he
00:20:00
had worked for the ford motor company on
00:20:02
the task force investigating ford's past
00:20:06
ignition switch problems
00:20:08
but newell insisted he eliminated the
00:20:11
switch in sheila's car as the cause of
00:20:14
the fire
00:20:16
newl admitted however that he did not
00:20:18
photograph or document his analysis of
00:20:21
the switch in his report
00:20:24
without the insurance motive
00:20:26
the prosecution argued that sheila had
00:20:28
grown tired of caring for her 82 year
00:20:31
old mother
00:20:32
they were all one very close-knit family
00:20:35
the testimony was
00:20:37
unanimous about that there was no there
00:20:39
was no dissent to that
00:20:42
after a four-day trial
00:20:44
the jury deliberated for just under
00:20:46
three hours before finding sheila bryan
00:20:50
not guilty
00:20:52
i just
00:20:53
thank you lord
00:20:56
well you could cite this case as an
00:20:59
example of the system
00:21:00
failing and that she did 10 months in
00:21:03
jail for something she didn't do
00:21:05
or you could cite it as an example of
00:21:06
the system succeeding
00:21:09
because it corrected itself
00:21:12
two different trials
00:21:15
two different verdicts
00:21:17
the town of omega
00:21:19
will never be the same
00:21:21
there were heated debates about her
00:21:23
guilt or her innocent up until the first
00:21:25
child
00:21:26
and they continued of course after she
00:21:28
was convicted and went to prison
00:21:30
and and they continue to this day
00:21:34
but sheila bryan
00:21:35
is a free woman
00:21:37
and gives the credit
00:21:39
to forensic science
00:21:41
what made the difference
00:21:43
having a very credible expert
00:21:46
that believed in what he was doing and
00:21:50
what he was saying
00:21:52
this was a case of forensic evidence
00:21:54
whether it be medical or automobile this
00:21:57
was what this case was all about was
00:21:59
forensic evidence
00:22:02
[Music]
00:22:12
[Music]
00:22:27
[Music]
00:22:36
you
