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on this episode of women behind bars
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one woman is convicted of fatally
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shooting her four-year-old twin sons
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there is no justice there's nothing
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that's going to bring my little boys
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back
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and i asked her what happened and she
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said i shot my kids
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then dina fairchild tells her story she
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allegedly set a fire that killed her
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boyfriend and his parents
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i could hear him screaming i mean it was
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almost an inhuman sound
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no i would not have set the fire i would
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have done my best to stop it
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two women two brutal crimes these are
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the stories of leslie dominic and dina
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fairchild
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[Music]
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[Music]
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on march 17 2001 antonio ortiz made a
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gruesome discovery
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when he visited his girlfriend leslie
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dominic at her father's home in potty
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vidra beach florida
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ortiz told the operator that leslie's
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four-year-old twin boys jamie and johnny
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deminik were shot in the head
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there was a lot of blood on the floor
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and on the bed
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it was more of an execution-style murder
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when authorities arrived at the scene
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they found the young boy's mother leslie
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dominic unconscious on the bed
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next to her fatally wounded children
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with a 357 magnum beside her
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the evidence showed that the children
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did not fit into her lifestyle
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police charged 31 year old leslie
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dominic with murdering her young sons
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leslie was chemically clinically
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depressed
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she said i don't know why i did it was
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leslie dominic temporarily insane or was
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this a cold-blooded murder to get rid of
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her children
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in 1969 leslie dominic the eldest of
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three daughters was born in
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charlottesville virginia to john and
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catherine ewing
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we moved to maryland shortly after i was
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born and i grew up in maryland we had a
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pretty normal family relationship
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leslie was always very intelligent
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even in the first grade very kind to
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others loved animals
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she was uh she had her it was into
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brownies and girl scouts and
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lived a very normal you know child's
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life i think
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she was raised in a very nurturing
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environment
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her mother and father were very caring
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she was a very bright
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young lady iq was about 117.
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when she was 12 years old leslie's
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parents got divorced
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while she continued to have a good
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relationship with her mom and sisters
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leslie ended up living with her dad
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because she was enrolled in a school
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close to his home like many teens during
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their high school years
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leslie experimented with recreational
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drugs
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started smoking marijuana and that
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sort of grew into lsd and
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we used that off and on and
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experimented with cocaine i think once
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or twice
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[Music]
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she was very popular she liked to party
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yes she did
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and uh so we had to keep an eye on her
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but
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uh we kept an eye on all three girls so
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yes after graduating high school
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leslie studied art in french in belgium
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for six months
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i had good teachers it was a good
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experience
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but when i moved back to the united
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states i decided that art was really not
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where i was headed
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according to court records leslie told a
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psychiatrist that when she returned to
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the united states
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she attended loyola college in baltimore
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maryland but she dropped out after a
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year
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those records also say leslie admitted
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to having several relationships with men
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while continuing to abuse alcohol and
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drugs
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she made some bad choices instead of
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pursuing
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a very
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[Music]
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very good career that she had an
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opportunity to pursue
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she chose to engage in drugs and alcohol
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abuse
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at age 25 leslie moved from maryland to
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the wealthy area of ponte vedra beach
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florida
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where both her mom and dad had relocated
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in march of 1996
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leslie met a 22 year old naval officer
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named tommy demenek
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while she and friends were playing pool
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at a local bar he seemed like a good
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person
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and he had nice manners so
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you know i was interested in him the
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couple dated for a few months before he
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was deployed
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he had to go away for a six-month cruise
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in the persian gulf and
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i thought that i might be pregnant so i
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told him before he left
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well i think i might be pregnant leslie
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confirmed the news and called tommy
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while he was in the gulf
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he was happy about it i was happy about
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it in december 1996 when tommy returned
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home
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they got married we didn't have a
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wedding we just went to the courthouse
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two months later leslie gave birth to
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twin boys johnny and jamie
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it was wonderful they were beautiful and
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healthy
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she was the perfect mother everybody in
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the family was
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impressed with a good mother she was
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her whole life revolved around
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taking good care of these little boys in
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addition to caring for the boys
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leslie took online classes at a florida
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community college
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where she was awarded student of the
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year in 1998 for her straight a average
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but while she succeeded as a mother and
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a student her marriage was failing
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leslie says she was left alone for
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months at a time to raise the twins
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while tommy was at sea with his job in
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the navy
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he tried his best and he was a good
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father
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and he did everything he knew
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how to try to make things right
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when he came back everybody had to
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readjust he
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had a hard time adjusting to the boys
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and he had a hard time adjusting to it
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as a family unit
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according to leslie the couple fought
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often and she says
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tommy's long absences put an additional
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strain on their relationship
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i said to him several times you know
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i need you to be here i need to
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communicate with you and you know
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you're not communicating with me and
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please let's do something about this
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in december 1999 while tommy was away at
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sea
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leslie sent him an email saying she
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wanted a divorce
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nine months later she met antonio ortiz
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a local sports photographer
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we immediately started a relationship as
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soon as we met
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we fell in love and we were together
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every day
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since the day we met pretty much he was
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always very
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affectionate and he loved the boys the
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boys loved him
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and it was a good relationship but as
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leslie's divorce was about to become
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final she says she became depressed
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tommy and leslie were
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very civil with each other everything
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was great
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he just wanted the boys as well i'm
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having trouble sleeping
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feeling depressed and anxious
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i said let me go see my primary care
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physician
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leslie said a nurse practitioner at a
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local health clinic gave her trial
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samples of the antidepressant zoloft
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and the anti-anxiety drug xanax my lips
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were stolen and my face was kind of
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swollen up and i started noticing that i
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had hives
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leslie claims that when she called her
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doctor's office the nurse practitioner
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told her to continue taking the drugs
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after two weeks she began to hallucinate
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lose her memory and began drinking
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heavily
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i found her one afternoon just laid out
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in her bed and her eyes were rolling
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back and
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it looked like she was having a seizure
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that's when she told me that she had
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first pulled out the gun
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and was thinking of killing herself when
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women behind bars continues
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in march 2001 31 year old leslie dominic
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was taking medication for depression
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and undergoing a difficult divorce from
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her husband tommy
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at the heart of the breakup was a
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custody battle over their four-year-old
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twin sons
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jamie and johnny for financial and
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emotional support
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leslie had moved in with her father and
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future stepmother in their townhouse in
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ponte vedra beach florida
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i saw her as the most loving
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mother i had experienced with twin boys
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patient and creative at the time leslie
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moved into the townhouse with her dad
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she had a gun her father gave her for
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protection when i moved in with my
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father
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i had given him the gun so we put it in
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the closet you know tucked
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it away up on the top shelf you know we
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were concerned about
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you know the boy's safety leslie's
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divorce was settled on march 13
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2001. she was awarded custody of the
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twins
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her husband tommy was allowed visitation
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but despite the favorable divorce
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outcome
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leslie says she was still depressed and
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suffering debilitating side effects from
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her antidepressant including
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hallucinations
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memory loss and increased alcohol use
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before i started the zoloft i was just a
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very on and off drinker you know
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a couple of beers on the weekend with
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everybody
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when i started taking this olaf i had
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this like
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basically uncontrollable urge to drink
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[Music]
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leslie says she also began to have
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thoughts about killing herself
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one afternoon the first week of march
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2001 she nearly acted on it
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i had gone into the closet and got the
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gun i was going to shoot myself
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and um i was standing in the closet
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holding the gun when i realized what i
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was going to do
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it was after this event that leslie
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confided her suicidal tendencies to
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antonio
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i told her okay we're having some
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problems because medication is
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obviously having a negative effect on
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you and
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you know you have to go to a doctor
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according to court documents
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the following day leslie says when she
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called her doctor
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she found out he was booked for three
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weeks so she saw the nurse practitioner
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that originally gave her the zoloft
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she claims he immediately switched her
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medication to another antidepressant
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paxil i said well you know aren't you
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supposed to wean off of them
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wean off and then wean on or something
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and and he said no just stop taking the
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zoloft and start taking the pax look
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and she also told them that she had
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suicidal thoughts
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and i think that somebody
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should have asked what they could do to
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help her
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you just can't let a patient walk out
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with two young children and
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just you just can't do that
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but court documents state that the nurse
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practitioner said leslie did not mention
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any suicidal thoughts to him
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for three days leslie took paxil and the
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anti-anxiety medication xanax
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combined with alcohol on the night of
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march 16
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2001 she and her boyfriend antonio got
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into an argument when he asked her if
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she was sure she was taking the correct
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dosage of her medication
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she hit me she just like whacked me
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right across the face and it was just
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like whoa i started noticing she was
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getting physical i was like whoa this is
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totally out of character
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according to court records in the
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afternoon of march 17 2001
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jamie and johnny deminik were watching
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cartoons in their mother's bedroom
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earlier in the day leslie had called
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antonio to set up a date that night to
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talk
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about 3 48 pm she called her ex-husband
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tommy and asked if he could babysit the
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twins
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but he said he was busy at 402 she
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called antonio to say tommy couldn't
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watch the boys
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when she hung up she did the unthinkable
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she left the room walked through her
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father's bedroom
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into a closet and high on a shelf in the
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closet
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was an unloaded revolver it was a 357
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magnum took ammunition and loaded
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all of the cylinder holes
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so it had six shots in it she walked out
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of the closet
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back into the children's room the
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children are still watching scooby
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she then walked up to the first one
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james she put the gun against his
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forehead
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she did pull the trigger and
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his his his skull exploded the second
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child went into a panic
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and that little boy tried to run away
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and she shot at him one time missed him
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he's on his way out the door
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she shoots him and grazes his skull
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then she pins him down and puts the gun
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to the side of his head and kills him
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she called me and just immediately said
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i just shot the boys in the head
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like what did you say i kind of lost
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touch with her i guess she had passed
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out by then
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[Music]
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antonio immediately drove to leslie's
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father's home where she had been living
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with her sons
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i pull up into the house and as soon as
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i open the door
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i smell gunpowder and i immediately knew
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leslie was laying on the bed the gun was
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beside her
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one of the boys was on the bed the other
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one was on the floor
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and i can tell both of them weren't
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moving
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and i immediately called 911
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[Applause]
00:14:36
when i first arrived i seen uh anthony
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ortiz
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standing out in front of the residence
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he's screaming
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they've been shot they're upstairs
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they've been shot
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detective burris ran upstairs to the
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bedroom where leslie was with her
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deceased twin sons
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she was lying in bed next to james
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she had the covers over the top half of
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her body
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pulled up to about where her neck was
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she wasn't saying anything her eyes were
00:15:02
closed
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i did notice a large amount of blood
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covering her face
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wasn't crying or nothing i asked her
00:15:08
ma'am can you hear me
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at that time miss dominic opened her
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eyes looked around the room and looked
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at me
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and i asked her what happened and she
00:15:18
said i shot my kids
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i don't remember any of that day i
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remember i can tell you the bits and
00:15:23
pieces that i do remember but
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there's not a lot that i remember i
00:15:27
don't remember the day before
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and i didn't remember the day before
00:15:30
that when they said the boys had been
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shot by their mother
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it was a nightmare when i first came on
00:15:36
the scene i found out what happened
00:15:38
i knew right off right then i knew
00:15:42
why it happened it could not have
00:15:44
happened
00:15:45
if it hadn't been for something else and
00:15:47
we know what that was it was the
00:15:49
antidepressants
00:15:50
the paxil and zola
00:15:54
leslie was taken by ambulance to a
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nearby hospital accompanied by two
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police detectives
00:15:59
during the trip they recorded their
00:16:01
conversation with leslie
00:16:02
who was in shock over what she had done
00:16:08
what do you think's wrong with you
00:16:11
you know
00:16:22
at the hospital sergeant jay lawing
00:16:24
interviewed leslie
00:16:25
we were taking samples of the blood off
00:16:28
of her face
00:16:29
and she started crying and
00:16:32
kind of said oh my god i've killed my
00:16:35
babies
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she never could give me a reason why
00:16:42
leslie confessed several times to
00:16:44
killing her children but told
00:16:46
investigators that she didn't have
00:16:47
control over her actions
00:16:49
and really wanted to kill herself
00:16:50
instead
00:16:51
[Music]
00:16:53
i'd seen a drop of blood or something on
00:16:55
my leg or a bone fragment or something
00:16:58
it was at that point that i realized
00:16:59
that what had happened was real
00:17:02
once we got the blood test back we knew
00:17:04
that she was under the influence of
00:17:05
alcohol
00:17:06
and then once i started talking to her
00:17:07
she told me she had taken some xanax and
00:17:09
some paxils so
00:17:10
we knew that was in her system her blood
00:17:12
level at the time it was tested was
00:17:16
324.324
00:17:17
that's four times the driving while
00:17:20
drunk level of blood investigators
00:17:23
confiscated 11 empty beer cans
00:17:26
an empty bottle of bourbon paxil zoloft
00:17:28
and xanax from the crime scene
00:17:31
that night leslie was charged with two
00:17:33
counts of murder
00:17:34
and taken to the local jail
00:17:37
when women behind bars continues it's
00:17:39
difficult to convince a jury
00:17:42
that in one's entire lifetime
00:17:45
they've only been temporarily insane for
00:17:47
three minutes
00:17:48
and those happen to be the three minutes
00:17:50
that they committed the homicide
00:17:51
and later in this episode of women
00:17:53
behind bars deena fairchild is accused
00:17:55
of arson and the murder of three
00:17:58
i caught fire while i was standing at
00:17:59
the back door the whole side of my head
00:18:01
was on fire the front of my legs were on
00:18:12
fire
00:18:15
the night of march 17 2001 31 year old
00:18:19
leslie dominic was booked in the saint
00:18:20
johns county jail in saint augustine
00:18:22
florida
00:18:24
she was charged with shooting to death
00:18:25
her four-year-old twin boys
00:18:28
shortly after i was in the jail a couple
00:18:30
weeks
00:18:31
a month maybe
00:18:34
i had a dream meeting the boys were
00:18:40
walking down the street and they went
00:18:44
running ahead of me
00:18:46
and they turned into stores
00:18:50
in the nearly five years leslie was in
00:18:52
jail while awaiting trial
00:18:54
she met with dr ernest miller a
00:18:56
psychiatrist for the defense
00:18:58
after 70 hours of evaluation he
00:19:01
concluded that she was insane at the
00:19:02
time of the murders
00:19:04
and that she believed she was taking her
00:19:05
children to a better place
00:19:07
[Music]
00:19:08
she saw the world as a hell in which
00:19:10
they were living and she
00:19:12
and her distorted mind and thinking
00:19:14
projected onto the children that they
00:19:16
were having the same problems
00:19:17
it's not logical to argue that she was
00:19:19
trying to send the children to a better
00:19:21
place
00:19:22
when in fact she felt that she was going
00:19:24
to burn in hell
00:19:26
for the for the evil thing that she had
00:19:28
done to the children
00:19:31
on january 3rd 2006 leslie dominic went
00:19:34
to trial
00:19:35
her lawyers argued that she had killed
00:19:37
her children in a moment of insanity
00:19:39
caused by drinking alcohol while taking
00:19:41
a combination of antidepressants and
00:19:43
xanax
00:19:44
[Music]
00:19:48
lay persons believe that a mother who
00:19:51
kills her two four-year-old sons
00:19:56
this way has to be crazy but
00:20:00
that's a different standard than the
00:20:03
legal standard of insanity
00:20:06
the prosecution argued that florida's
00:20:08
standard for insanity requires that a
00:20:10
person must not know what they are doing
00:20:12
or not know that it is wrong
00:20:14
to support his theory that leslie knew
00:20:16
what she was doing the prosecution
00:20:18
showed the jury a timeline of phone
00:20:20
calls leslie made before and after the
00:20:22
murders
00:20:23
[Music]
00:20:26
all the things she did the things she
00:20:28
said were all
00:20:30
very normal we know that at 4
00:20:34
16 that afternoon after she'd killed
00:20:36
them she picked up her telephone call
00:20:38
and she dialed antonio
00:20:40
and she said antonio i've killed the
00:20:42
children she knew what she was doing
00:20:44
and had done but dr miller believes that
00:20:48
leslie's calls before
00:20:49
and after the murders were not relevant
00:20:51
to the question of whether or not she
00:20:53
was sane at the time of the killings
00:20:55
people do it all the time they drink
00:20:58
they become intoxicated on drugs and or
00:21:01
alcohol street drugs or alcohol
00:21:03
and they have periods of lucidity they
00:21:05
have periods of detachment from reality
00:21:09
sergeant jay lawing who interviewed
00:21:10
leslie after the crime said the motive
00:21:12
was anger
00:21:14
she killed him because she was upset
00:21:19
upset lawing says because leslie could
00:21:21
not go out with her boyfriend the night
00:21:23
of the murders
00:21:24
because she said her ex-husband tommy
00:21:26
could not take care of the twins
00:21:28
i loved my children more than anything
00:21:32
[Music]
00:21:34
that despite what is being said
00:21:39
about me doing this to get back at my
00:21:43
husband
00:21:44
that's not true the prosecution argued
00:21:48
that leslie killed her boys to be free
00:21:50
to return to her single lifestyle she
00:21:52
wanted to return
00:21:54
to her pre-marriage lifestyle of drugs
00:21:58
and multiple male friends and
00:22:01
she couldn't fit the children into that
00:22:03
that's total nonsense
00:22:05
they were clutching at straws they were
00:22:07
looking for any way they could find to
00:22:09
malign her character
00:22:12
at the heart of the trial was the
00:22:14
international debate about the possible
00:22:15
dangers of antidepressants
00:22:17
also known as ssris dr barbara kerwin a
00:22:21
psychologist for the prosecution
00:22:23
testified that after evaluating leslie
00:22:25
she found her to be a woman in control
00:22:28
who was sane when she committed the
00:22:29
murders
00:22:31
barbara kirwan said basically that she
00:22:34
was
00:22:36
self-absorbed narcissistic
00:22:39
and that ssris have nothing to do with
00:22:44
making people homicidal or suicidal for
00:22:47
that matter
00:22:50
the most emotional testimony came from
00:22:52
the victim's father
00:22:54
tommy dominic he just told a
00:22:56
straightforward story about what his
00:22:58
children meant to him
00:23:00
and everybody in the courthouse
00:23:04
teared up for that one i think it was a
00:23:06
stream of consciousness
00:23:08
that that pervaded throughout the trial
00:23:11
that leslie dimling knew what she was
00:23:13
doing that night she was in charge
00:23:15
and she knew what she was doing and she
00:23:17
knew that it was wrong
00:23:18
and i think that all of the witnesses
00:23:20
provided some evidence
00:23:22
of that each one provided a piece in
00:23:25
this puzzle that that painted the
00:23:27
picture of leslie dominic and what she
00:23:34
did
00:23:38
it's difficult to convince a jury that
00:23:42
in one's entire lifetime they've only
00:23:45
been temporarily insane
00:23:47
for three minutes and those happen to be
00:23:49
the three minutes that they committed
00:23:50
the homicide
00:23:51
i think the verdict was a foregone
00:23:52
conclusion and the only real
00:23:54
sentence variable was whether
00:23:58
she would get consecutive or concurrent
00:24:01
and judge alexander gave her consecutive
00:24:04
just to ensure that she would not
00:24:08
get out of prison she was a victim of
00:24:11
the pharmaceutical companies
00:24:12
in the legal system now the time goes by
00:24:15
that
00:24:17
if i close my eyes i can see him here
00:24:19
[Music]
00:24:26
there is no justice there's nothing
00:24:29
that's going to bring my little boys
00:24:30
back
00:24:34
leslie demenek is now serving two
00:24:36
consecutive life sentences
00:24:38
at a maximum security prison in florida
00:24:40
she is currently not taking any
00:24:42
medication or receiving therapy
00:24:44
i can't just think about my children you
00:24:47
know how beautiful they were
00:24:50
and sweet and loving
00:24:53
you know i have to i can't think of them
00:24:55
just in
00:25:01
just in the way of what they thinks of
00:25:02
their children because
00:25:04
when i think of them i always think
00:25:06
[Music]
00:25:08
that they're dead and that they're dead
00:25:10
because of me
00:25:16
next up on this episode of women behind
00:25:18
bars a woman is blamed for arson and the
00:25:20
murder of three
00:25:22
i started dozing off and the next thing
00:25:24
i know the house blew up
00:25:26
for more information about women behind
00:25:28
bars go to www.wetv.com
00:25:42
july 21 1996 joe martin and his elderly
00:25:46
parents
00:25:47
joe senior and tommy grace martin died
00:25:50
in a fire that swept through their small
00:25:52
home
00:25:53
i've had numerous arson investigations
00:25:55
and this one with the elderly couple
00:25:57
inside
00:25:57
is certainly right up there with the
00:25:59
worst of them a fire investigator
00:26:01
suspected 41 year old deena fairchild
00:26:04
after he saw blisters on her hands and
00:26:06
legs it would indicate that
00:26:07
a liquid accelerant had splashed
00:26:10
on onto her and had caught on fire
00:26:14
at some point she wasn't well
00:26:17
mentally she was you know becoming
00:26:19
unhooked unstable
00:26:21
did dina fairchild intentionally commit
00:26:23
a triple homicide or was she an innocent
00:26:25
victim in the ordeal
00:26:28
[Music]
00:26:33
deena fairchild was one of four girls
00:26:36
she was born at lackland air force base
00:26:38
in san antonio texas in 1955 where her
00:26:41
father worked as a mechanic
00:26:42
my dad was a really good looking guy and
00:26:44
a lot of women like my dad and my dad
00:26:46
liked women
00:26:48
when her father left the air force he
00:26:49
moved the family to milwaukee wisconsin
00:26:51
and became a truck driver
00:26:53
he was on the road a lot while dina's
00:26:55
mom watched the kids
00:26:57
i worship my daddy when my daddy was
00:26:59
gone on the truck my mommy used to let
00:27:00
me sleep on the couch to watch for him
00:27:02
okay
00:27:04
a memory from dina's childhood which
00:27:06
foreshadows the future comes from dina's
00:27:08
sister marsha
00:27:09
who claims that when dina was seven
00:27:11
years old she set her mother's house
00:27:12
code in flames
00:27:14
and dina's father charles said that when
00:27:16
dina was a child she torched their
00:27:17
curtains
00:27:19
there were other comments made
00:27:21
indicating that
00:27:22
she was fixated by fire
00:27:24
[Music]
00:27:25
but dina denies any memory of these
00:27:27
incidents involving fire from her
00:27:29
childhood
00:27:31
when she was 10 her world was shattered
00:27:33
when her parents divorced and dena went
00:27:35
to live with her mother
00:27:37
my mama had a real bad nervous breakdown
00:27:41
when um she broke up with my father
00:27:45
she was never the same after that two
00:27:48
years after the divorce
00:27:49
her mother olivia remarried her second
00:27:52
husband had four other children
00:27:54
we all got along really great it was me
00:27:57
and my stepfather
00:27:58
didn't get along dina says her
00:28:01
stepfather never made her feel like she
00:28:03
belonged in his family
00:28:04
i took a lot of beatings off that man
00:28:07
whether or not she was actually abused
00:28:09
dina was so desperate to get away from
00:28:11
her family that at age 13
00:28:13
she ran away from home to live with
00:28:15
relatives in milwaukee
00:28:17
when that didn't work out at age 14 she
00:28:19
began living on the streets and hanging
00:28:21
out with the wrong crowd
00:28:23
you know i was trying to be this hard
00:28:24
tough person that could handle anything
00:28:26
deal with anything
00:28:27
and i was trying to make it on my own
00:28:31
but
00:28:31
i ran with some friends and some bad
00:28:34
things that happened to me
00:28:37
dina claimed she was raped by two men at
00:28:39
two different times but she did not
00:28:41
report them
00:28:42
during one of those rapes she says she
00:28:44
became pregnant
00:28:46
soon after she was picked up with
00:28:48
friends by police who were patrolling
00:28:49
the streets of milwaukee for runaways
00:28:52
from the back seat of the cop car dina
00:28:54
attacked one of the police officers
00:28:56
a foolish act that would change the
00:28:57
course of her life
00:28:59
i pulled a knife on him you know when i
00:29:01
put it around his throat and i said okay
00:29:02
sweetheart pull over we're getting out
00:29:04
here you know
00:29:04
i thought i was being really cute when
00:29:07
he tried to take the knife from me we
00:29:08
both got cut
00:29:10
and that was why i went to the reform
00:29:12
school
00:29:12
[Music]
00:29:16
dina gave birth to a daughter while in
00:29:18
custody but gave her up for adoption
00:29:20
after three years in reform school dina
00:29:22
then moved to florida and during her 20s
00:29:25
and 30s
00:29:25
she had several boyfriends and three
00:29:27
more children out of wedlock
00:29:29
i don't talk about my children because i
00:29:32
gave them up
00:29:34
and i don't like to bring them into
00:29:36
anything i don't believe in abortion
00:29:40
dina did raise one of those children on
00:29:42
her own a son she named matthew
00:29:44
born in 1986. i loved him to death
00:29:47
people used to tease me about him being
00:29:49
connected to me at the hip
00:29:51
matthew was the apple of his mother's
00:29:53
eye she was proud of his high iq
00:29:56
it was in the gifted range so it was
00:29:58
around 1 30.
00:29:59
he was just very smart even as a young
00:30:02
child he was in tune with his mother's
00:30:04
struggles
00:30:05
she felt worthless she felt useless she
00:30:08
seemed
00:30:08
to insinuate that life wasn't worth
00:30:11
living
00:30:12
and seemed to have some very suicidal
00:30:14
tendencies
00:30:16
but matthew says that while he loved his
00:30:18
mother as a child he remembers her
00:30:20
unpredictable rage
00:30:22
when she was drinking she'd have bursts
00:30:24
of anger and she'd blame everyone
00:30:26
else and then she would have sudden
00:30:29
often times
00:30:30
violent mood swings where she would turn
00:30:32
and
00:30:33
go in introspective and blame everything
00:30:36
on herself
00:30:40
matthew remembers he and his mother
00:30:42
moving around florida a lot until he was
00:30:44
nine
00:30:45
to pay the bills dina worked low-paying
00:30:47
jobs as a cashier
00:30:48
my mother often worked long long shifts
00:30:52
or would work multiple jobs and
00:30:55
therefore
00:30:56
i was home alone or out of babysitters a
00:30:58
lot of the time
00:31:00
dina dated several men throughout
00:31:02
matthew's childhood i get along good
00:31:04
with truck drivers and construction
00:31:05
workers are my
00:31:08
box of chocolates okay one of those
00:31:10
truck drivers was joe martin whom she
00:31:12
met while she was a cashier at a truck
00:31:14
stop in saint augustine
00:31:16
he would come in and he would stand at
00:31:17
the end of the counter and talk to me
00:31:19
and
00:31:19
his cb handle was running late because
00:31:21
he was always late
00:31:22
i used to tease him about the reason he
00:31:24
was late was because he stood around
00:31:25
flirted with girls all the time at the
00:31:26
truck stop
00:31:27
i remember meeting him and um
00:31:31
you know liking him at least some level
00:31:34
he certainly seems better than people my
00:31:38
mother had dealt with in the past
00:31:40
we started dating and
00:31:43
him and my son hit it off right off the
00:31:45
bat
00:31:46
joe lived with his mother tommy grace
00:31:48
and his father joe martin senior on a
00:31:50
small farm in saint augustine
00:31:52
they had animals they had chickens and
00:31:54
cows and pigs and ducks
00:31:57
and dogs and everything
00:32:00
dina said her son would visit the farm
00:32:02
on the weekends while she worked
00:32:05
for my son it was like a gift from
00:32:07
heaven
00:32:08
he had a man and he had a grand
00:32:11
grandparent
00:32:12
walter and marilyn schweinfurths knew
00:32:14
the elder martins for more than 20 years
00:32:17
they were real nice people and they
00:32:19
liked to party
00:32:21
in the moose lodge and we got along real
00:32:23
good but the martin's peaceful life was
00:32:25
about to change
00:32:26
as their son's relationship with deena
00:32:28
fairchild heated up
00:32:30
joe and i got married in 94.
00:32:35
and i wanted to marry him on july 4th
00:32:37
because he was
00:32:40
fireworks okay but the marriage was
00:32:43
never made official
00:32:44
there were never any documents filed
00:32:46
with the court no marriage certificate
00:32:47
was ever filed
00:32:50
dina and her son moved in with joe and
00:32:52
his parents there was friction between
00:32:54
the two mothers dina and tommy
00:32:56
right from the start tommy wouldn't let
00:32:59
her in the house
00:33:01
tommy hated her my mother and his mother
00:33:03
would have disagreements and because of
00:33:06
that
00:33:06
joe's relationship became strained
00:33:09
between
00:33:10
his parents and my mother they did both
00:33:12
have tempers there was numerous
00:33:14
altercations between the two usually
00:33:16
involved some type of alcohol
00:33:17
apparently he and dino drank quite a bit
00:33:20
and fought a lot police say the couple
00:33:24
fought so loudly
00:33:25
officers were often called to
00:33:27
investigate the neighbors
00:33:28
had called the sheriff's office on
00:33:30
numerous occasions and we responded out
00:33:32
here
00:33:33
and dealt with the issues in july of
00:33:36
1994 police
00:33:38
filed a report of domestic violence but
00:33:40
neither dina nor joe
00:33:41
pressed charges against each other i
00:33:44
know little joe had been trying to get
00:33:46
rid of her
00:33:46
get her to leave she wouldn't go home
00:33:49
there were times where she seemed to
00:33:50
depend on him
00:33:51
and there were times where she hated him
00:33:55
police say that on july 21 1996
00:33:58
joe and dina were drinking all day they
00:34:00
had gone with matthew to run an errand
00:34:02
to buy hay for joe's farm animals
00:34:05
we'd gone that day and picked up some
00:34:08
hay
00:34:09
and i remember we started to unload it
00:34:13
and we decided to stop for a while
00:34:16
while we ate dinner that evening
00:34:18
nine-year-old matthew
00:34:20
was watching tv in the barn behind the
00:34:21
house where he slept
00:34:23
he says his mother and joe had been
00:34:24
drinking when they had a violent
00:34:26
argument
00:34:27
she left the house and stayed with her
00:34:28
son in the barn while joe and his
00:34:30
parents were sleeping
00:34:32
matthew and dina watched the movie
00:34:33
she-devil starring roseanne barr
00:34:36
the premise of the movie was that she
00:34:38
was tired of her old life
00:34:41
and that she had gotten sick and fed up
00:34:44
with everything so she decided to
00:34:46
torture house and move on and have a new
00:34:49
life
00:34:51
i started dozing off and that was what
00:34:53
was on tv when i fell asleep
00:34:58
and the next thing i know the house blew
00:35:00
up
00:35:02
i heard the explosion and i ran for the
00:35:05
house
00:35:08
matthew says what he remembers most
00:35:10
about the fire is joe martin jr screams
00:35:12
inside the house
00:35:14
i remember we went back out towards the
00:35:16
barn
00:35:19
and um
00:35:22
i could hear him screaming
00:35:25
it seemed to carry on forever
00:35:28
i mean it was almost an inhuman sound
00:35:31
when i got to the neighbors
00:35:32
um i told her house was on fire and i
00:35:34
told her to call i told her to call 911
00:35:48
by the time firefighters arrived at the
00:35:50
scene the blaze fully engulfed the house
00:35:52
as i entered the front of the house i
00:35:54
observed three bodies
00:35:55
and it was determined at the end of my
00:35:58
investigation
00:35:58
that this was an incendiary fire an
00:36:01
intentionally set fire using an
00:36:03
accelerant
00:36:05
when women behind bars continues the
00:36:07
back of my hand got burned real bad
00:36:08
the whole side of my head was on fire
00:36:15
[Music]
00:36:19
in july 1996 the florida state fire
00:36:22
marshal's office determined the fatal
00:36:23
house fire that took
00:36:24
three lives was the act of an arsonist
00:36:30
deena fairchild's boyfriend joe martin
00:36:32
jr and his elderly parents
00:36:33
died in the blaze dina and her
00:36:37
nine-year-old son matthew lived with
00:36:38
them
00:36:39
but each said they were in the barn when
00:36:41
the blaze broke out
00:36:42
sergeant robert gober worked on the
00:36:44
investigation
00:36:46
based on where the bodies were recovered
00:36:49
i did a crime scene sketch of the
00:36:51
residence
00:36:52
including measurements from where
00:36:55
their bedrooms worked where their bodies
00:36:56
were found and
00:36:58
where the front entry was the sketch
00:37:01
determined the three martins were just a
00:37:02
few feet from escaping the fire out the
00:37:04
front door before they collapsed
00:37:07
the autopsy showed that all three
00:37:08
victims died from smoke inhalation
00:37:11
investigators discovered the fire was
00:37:13
started by gasoline
00:37:15
there was a definite pattern on the
00:37:17
floor where the accelerant had been
00:37:19
poured
00:37:19
i had talked with dina fairchild
00:37:22
at some point during the investigation
00:37:25
there were
00:37:26
some unusual markings on her hands and
00:37:29
legs that appeared to be blistering but
00:37:32
this time
00:37:32
i'm beginning to think that there may be
00:37:34
some some more involvement that she's
00:37:36
indicating
00:37:37
oh i caught fire while i was standing at
00:37:39
the back door i had my hand up in front
00:37:41
of my face
00:37:42
my the back of my hand got burned real
00:37:43
bad the whole side of my head was on
00:37:45
fire
00:37:46
my um the front of my legs were on fire
00:37:49
but investigators were suspicious of
00:37:50
dina's explanation
00:37:52
it actually appeared that that she had
00:37:54
splashed a uh
00:37:56
an accelerant onto herself which at some
00:37:59
point in time did
00:38:00
actually catch on fire they became more
00:38:03
skeptical when a police detective
00:38:05
interviewed her nine-year-old son
00:38:06
matthew
00:38:08
he had been coached by his mother to to
00:38:10
come up with a story and he followed
00:38:12
that in the beginning and then he
00:38:14
i believe he broke down what did mommy
00:38:17
tell you
00:38:18
about going to jail
00:38:20
[Music]
00:38:22
she said she told me not to tell
00:38:26
anyone anyone what
00:38:29
what happened because um
00:38:33
she'd go to jail for a long time is she
00:38:36
talking about what happened with the
00:38:37
fire
00:38:38
yes okay he was a matter of fact about
00:38:41
the things that he heard
00:38:43
and some of the things that he heard i'm
00:38:44
sure we'll stick with him for the rest
00:38:45
of his life
00:38:47
both joe and his parents were sleeping
00:38:50
it
00:38:50
was late at night she
00:38:54
at some point decided to take a
00:38:58
can of gasoline that we kept for
00:39:01
lawn mowers started pouring it through
00:39:04
and around the house
00:39:06
she soaked a pile of laundry that was
00:39:09
close to joe's bedroom
00:39:11
presumably to target him specifically
00:39:14
and she couldn't get it lit so she asked
00:39:16
me to help her
00:39:18
so i went and i got
00:39:21
a bit of hate and she couldn't light
00:39:24
that either
00:39:25
okay and what happened with the fire
00:39:30
well she told me
00:39:35
she sent me on out to the carport
00:39:38
and she enchanted
00:39:42
told me to go get a twig okay
00:39:46
and i went over to um about hay
00:39:51
and i'm from the toy and she told me to
00:39:55
put a
00:39:56
gasoline on it from the tank
00:40:01
the nine-year-old even drew a picture of
00:40:03
the kerosene can he used to soak the
00:40:05
twig in
00:40:07
she used the kerosene and soaking it
00:40:11
with the uh
00:40:12
hay she was able to get it lit and was
00:40:15
able to get the house lit
00:40:18
from there i mean the place you know
00:40:21
almost instantly turned into an inferno
00:40:23
i don't like my son being called a liar
00:40:25
but yeah that if
00:40:26
it's straight out yeah it was lying no i
00:40:29
would not have set the fire
00:40:30
i would have done my best to stop it if
00:40:32
you're gonna try to
00:40:33
uh look at logic when it comes to
00:40:35
criminals you know you'll never find it
00:40:39
dina fairchild was charged with arson
00:40:41
and three counts of murder
00:40:42
her son was not charged for his part in
00:40:44
the fire he was sent to live with his
00:40:46
cousins in idaho
00:40:48
prosecutor robin strickler said dina's
00:40:50
motive was simple
00:40:51
she was angry she and joe martin had had
00:40:55
a fight that night
00:40:57
she didn't get along with joe martin's
00:40:58
mother so to me it was it was really a
00:41:00
matter of just anger
00:41:04
a year later after the fire matthew
00:41:06
fairchild returned to saint augustine
00:41:08
for his mother's trial
00:41:09
the prosecution was seeking the death
00:41:11
penalty and matthew was their star
00:41:13
witness
00:41:14
he didn't look at it when he testified
00:41:17
and the only time that he did i think
00:41:18
was when
00:41:19
they asked him if she was in the
00:41:20
courtroom and he pointed to her
00:41:23
the ten-year-old boy reiterated the same
00:41:25
story he told investigators when he was
00:41:27
interviewed
00:41:28
including how his mother used a pink
00:41:29
lighter to ignite the flames
00:41:32
i knew very well that what i was saying
00:41:34
was probably going to be one of the key
00:41:36
stones to put my mother
00:41:37
in prison or you know even possibly
00:41:40
given the death sentence
00:41:42
it was crucial testimony i just remember
00:41:44
him being an exceptional witness
00:41:46
and very good on the stand as a little
00:41:49
kid
00:41:50
after the testimony from fewer than a
00:41:52
dozen witnesses the prosecution rested
00:41:54
its case and the trial was in recess
00:41:58
so we had a break we came back up the
00:42:00
defense attorney came to me and said
00:42:01
that she's going to take the stand
00:42:03
and say that matthew is the one who
00:42:04
committed the crime
00:42:07
all she said was that her son had tried
00:42:10
to do this she didn't offer an
00:42:11
explanation
00:42:12
as to why he would do it i couldn't
00:42:14
believe that i had actually took the
00:42:16
stand and said that
00:42:18
but i was so scared that i was going to
00:42:21
go to the chair
00:42:32
i remember reading an article on the
00:42:33
saint augustine record after the trial
00:42:35
was over that the jury
00:42:37
had given mercy not mercy for miss
00:42:40
fairchild
00:42:41
but mercy for matthew
00:42:45
so that he didn't have to spend the rest
00:42:46
of his life knowing that he put his
00:42:47
mother in the electric chair
00:42:49
[Music]
00:42:51
dina fairchild is now 53 she's serving
00:42:54
time at a correctional institute in
00:42:56
south florida
00:42:57
her son matthew lived with relatives in
00:42:59
idaho until he was 15
00:43:01
and then returned to florida to live in
00:43:03
two different group homes
00:43:05
he now lives on his own this year the 21
00:43:08
year old hopes to get his degree in
00:43:09
computer technology
00:43:10
i don't drink i don't do drugs i've
00:43:13
pretty much
00:43:14
you know learned from my mother's
00:43:16
mistakes matthew says he only learned
00:43:18
years after the trial that his mother
00:43:20
blamed him for the fire in court
00:43:22
i felt betrayed at that point
00:43:26
i began to hate her he no longer keeps
00:43:29
in contact with his mother and still
00:43:31
lives with haunting questions he would
00:43:32
like her to answer someday
00:43:34
why did you claim that i was responsible
00:43:37
for what you did
00:43:40
what drove you to that point and
00:43:43
was there ever a point where you thought
00:43:45
to yourself maybe i should get some sort
00:43:47
of help
00:43:48
deena fairchild says she still loves her
00:43:50
son she has not seen him since the trial
00:43:53
12 years ago
00:43:54
she still maintains her innocence and
00:43:56
has hoped she might someday be freed
00:43:59
i've read stories where women women got
00:44:01
cleared
00:44:02
and got out it could happen while i'm
00:44:05
still alive
00:44:06
you can turn things around you know you
00:44:08
can have a light
