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[music playing] NARRATOR: Washington, DC is
a city steeped in history. Little known is that
it's home to one
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of the largest arson
sprees in US history. In setting hundreds
of fires, the arsonist
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left clues to his identity. And in the ashes
scientists found them. [theme music]
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[sirens] NARRATOR: Just
before dawn, there was a house fire in a middle
class suburb of Washington, DC.
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Firefighters put it out
before anyone was hurt. But it was clear, it
was deliberately set.
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PHILLIP PROCTOR:
There was someone in the home at the time. He had to have know it.
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And he didn't seem to care. NARRATOR: The fire originated
on the front porch where
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investigators found remnants
of a melted plastic gallon container and a cloth wick.
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RAYMOND KUK: There was
some fabric material that was present, which
turned out to be
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consistent with
an athletic sock. NARRATOR: This was the second
fire in the city in less than a
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week. Both had been set the same
way, with an accelerant inside a plastic
one-gallon container.
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A gas chromatography
test of the debris identified the
accelerant as gasoline. SCOTT FULKERSON: They were being
set in the early morning hours
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between hours of
2:00 AM and 6:00 AM. They were occurring at
single family residences.
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And the origin of the fire
was being found either on the front porch or the
rear porch of these homes.
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NARRATOR: The cloth
wick gave the arsonist plenty of time to get away. SCOTT FULKERSON: None of us
had seen that type of device
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before. We were so used to having
Molotov cocktails where they were lighting them and throwing
them against the structure.
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This was one that
was actually being placed against a structure. And basically you're
lighting it and walking away.
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NARRATOR: Investigators from
the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, or a ATF, found
another interesting item
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in the debris. Remnants of plastic
shopping bags revealed how the arsonist
carried the containers
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of gasoline and
avoided detection. SCOTT FULKERSON: And when you're
dealing with one individual who
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has showed a pattern of using
a device, which we had not seen on the streets
very frequently.
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We knew that it was going
to be a very difficult case. NARRATOR: Investigators
urged citizens
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to be on the lookout
for individuals carrying plastic shopping
bags in the middle
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of the night between
2:00 and 6:00 AM. DAVID STATTER: The public
needs to know this.
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They need to know they
have a serial arsonist in their neighborhood. Just like you need
to know there's
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a rapist working
your neighborhood. [sirens] NARRATOR: But it didn't help. Over the next two weeks,
there were four more fires,
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all within a few miles
of one another, all set with gasoline
inside a plastic gallon
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container placed on a porch. Investigators asked the
surrounding fire departments
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to compile a list of
all suspicious fires over the past year that started
on the front porch of a home
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between 2:00 and 6
o'clock in the morning. The results were astonishing. They were 20
additional fires, all
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set when people were
inside the homes. DAVID STATTER:
This has been going on for a year or two years.
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And we want to know,
now, what's going on. We want the answers. NARRATOR: Tragically, one of
those fires claimed a life.
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86-year-old Lou Edna Jones was
unable to get out of her home and died of smoke inhalation.
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She had five children,
15 grandchildren, and 20 great-grandchildren. All were traumatized by this
senseless act of violence.
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DARLENE LLOYD: I have
been so heartbroken. I will never be the same again. Since that-- and I mean,
the way she left here.
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A senseless death, because
someone wanted their kicks to sit back and watch a fire.
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How cold-hearted could you be? SCOTT FULKERSON: This is
a first-degree murder. We knew that, not only had he
killed one person that we knew
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of in the past, was it
going to happen again? NARRATOR: The ATF and the
local fire investigators
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formed a task force
to find the arsonist setting the
Washington, DC fires. There were 20 fires set with
plastic gallon containers
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full of gasoline and
cloth socks used as wicks. To gain some insight into
the identity of the arsonist,
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investigators called
in Ron Tunkel, an a ATF criminal profiler. RONALD F. TUNKEL: Well, how a
person acts in the commission
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of their crimes is a
reflection of how they will act in their day-to-day
noncriminal lives.
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When we look at a
crime scene, we're looking for the more
emotional clues left behind.
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NARRATOR: In this
case, the fires were set in predominantly
black neighborhoods.
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For Tunkel this was a
crucial piece of information. RONALD F. TUNKEL: We're probably
dealing with a black offender.
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A white offender or
an Asian offender probably would have stood out. NARRATOR: Tunkel believed
the arsonist was very skilled
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and organized, most likely
a male in his late 20's to early 40's, and was probably
unmarried since the fires were
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set between 2:00 and 6
o'clock in the morning. NARRATOR: Investigators were
convinced that the arsonist
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followed his
exploits on the news and knew in that in one of
his fires he'd killed someone.
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DAVID STATTER:
Setting so many fires, terrorizing so many
people, he's right up there with some of the
great criminal minds,
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or terrible criminal
minds, that we've dealt with in the
Washington area. SCOTT FULKERSON: If we didn't
take him off the street,
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he wasn't going to stop.
[siren] NARRATOR: And that's
what happened. A few months later,
there was a fire
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in a nearby apartment building. Over 100 residents
were evacuated safely. The fire started
on the fourth floor
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using the incendiary device. SCOTT FULKERSON: There were
multiple one-gallon containers
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of gasoline placed out
throughout the hallway. NARRATOR: But this
time, investigators
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got a badly needed break. One of the residents,
57-year-old Paul DuBois, had some suspicious
burns on his hands.
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And his clothes
smelled of gasoline. His apartment was on the fourth
floor where the fire started.
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DuBois had a Ph.D. From
Cornell University, was $8,000 behind
in his rent, and was
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about to be evicted
when the fire broke out. DAVID STATTER: Some
people got very excited.
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Oh my. This was going to do the
serial arsonist when they arrested him-- that
that was the guy.
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But that didn't
ring right to me. NARRATOR: That's
because the other fires were set to single
dwelling homes.
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JAMES TRUSTY: What
was striking was that it was in his own
apartment building. And we began to think that
was a little bit inconsistent
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with everything else that had
happened up until that day. NARRATOR: And the incendiary
device in Dubois' apartment
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building was different
from the others. It didn't have a wick. Was it possible that
DuBois was a copycat
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and learned how to make the
device from media reports? SCOTT HOGLANDER: At one
point, the media actually put
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the device on TV, what they
thought was being used. And that was
particularly hard for us
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to deal with as a task force,
because now potentially anybody can go out there, recreate this,
and we would not know if we're
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dealing with the
arsonist or a copycat. NARRATOR: But while
DuBois was in custody,
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[sirens]
The fires continued. [sirens] Investigators concluded
that DuBois set the fire
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in his apartment
building, but that was it. SCOTT FULKERSON: Mr. Paul DuBois
was not the serial arsonist,
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however, responsible
for setting the fire in his apartment complex. He was not the arsonist
we were looking for.
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JAMES TRUSTY: Well, we learned
a lot about his background and his life, which
was certainly colorful.
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But it was pretty
clear, within weeks I would say, that this was not
going to be the person that
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was responsible for these fires. NARRATOR: However,
DuBois was convicted of setting his apartment
building on fire
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and was sentenced to
12 years in prison. Over the next two months,
there was a fire in every week.
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By this time, there
were over 30 of them. Then investigators
found something. A piece of the cloth wick
survived one of the fires.
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Was it possible
that the arsonist may have left his DNA
on the burnt cloth? If so, scientists hoped
they could find it.
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In most of the fires set by
the Washington, DC arsonist, the incendiary device
went up in flames.
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But in one case, a piece of the
wick, which was a cloth sock survived. On a hunch, scientists swabbed
the cloth with sterile water,
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put the swab in a vial, and
added a digest buffer that eliminates everything
except humans cells.
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Miraculously, the sock
contained skin cells. And they provided a DNA profile
presumably of the arsonist.
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KARY TONTARSKI: To have
such good DNA results for an arson case is
pretty remarkable.
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When you think about the quality
of the evidence in terms of how burned, or how much heat it
may have been subjected to,
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it's excellent to be
able to obtain results. NARRATOR: Why were
skin cells on the sock?
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The arsonist hadn't
laundered it. Unfortunately, the
DNA profile did not match any in the database
of known criminal offenders.
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But investigators got
another huge break. Three young men, coming home
from work around 2:00 AM,
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saw someone sitting
on their porch. Initially, they thought he was
a burglar and chased him away.
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-Hey, you!
What the hell you doing? -Waiting for Carlos? -Carlos?
Carlos who? -I must have the wrong place.
-Yeah, you must.
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-What's happening?
-He said he had the wrong place. NARRATOR: Afterwards,
they found a shopping bag
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with a plastic container
filled with gasoline and a sock tied
around the handle.
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SCOTT FULKERSON:
This is our chance. We finally have an
eyewitness, not only one,
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but we have three. Three witnesses that had
a conversation with what, in our minds, was
the serial arsonist.
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NARRATOR: Analysts
went over every inch of the bag and the
plastic container and got yet another break.
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They didn't find fingerprints. But sticking to the
outside of the container was a single human hair.
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RAYMOND KUK: So at that
point, we had a hair. We didn't know where
the hair came from.
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NARRATOR: The hair was
consistent with an African American. And it contained the root.
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DNA testing of the
hair root matched the DNA from the burned wick. The three men
described the suspect
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as a middle-aged black
male with short hair, approximately six feet tall. Police released this
composite sketch to the media.
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But the arsons continued. JAMES TRUSTY: We realize
as that process wore on, it was much more likely
that this case was going
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to be solved forensically
than through any sort of eyewitness testimony. NARRATOR: Then the arsonist
changed his pattern.
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Instead of using white
plastic shopping bags to carry the incendiary devices,
he switched to black ones.
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These were uncommon. SCOTT FULKERSON: The bottom of
the black back, read in part,
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made in China for the Cornelius
Shop, that portion of the bag survived the fire.
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NARRATOR: The ATF spoke with
the manufacturer in China and learned that only two stores
in the Washington, DC area
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bought these black
shopping bags. Both stories were in the general
vicinity of the arson fires.
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And the owners agreed to
help with the investigation. SCOTT FULKERSON: The store
owner provided us access
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to his store, to his products. We established
24-hour surveillance, physical and video surveillance,
on both of these locations.
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NARRATOR: And investigators
came up with a way to individualize every
bag the stores used.
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SCOTT FULKERSON: The
task force purchased a series of alphanumeric
steel chips. These steel chips had
thermal testing done on them
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and would survive
future fire scenes. NARRATOR: They fastened
a different numbered chip
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on to the bottom of each bag. If investigators found one
of these chips at a fire,
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the number would
identify the date, time, and location of the store. And security cameras would
show every individual buying
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plastic gallon containers
in that time frame. As the black bags were
put into circulation,
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investigators discovered
something else. An arson dog detected gasoline
on a pair of military dress
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pants discarded across the
street from one of the fires. They were the type
worn by the Marines.
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Scientists swabbed the
waistband and discovered human skin cells. The DNA profile of
these skin cells
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matched the hair found on the
incendiary device and the skin cells from the burned wick.
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SCOTT FULKERSON:
The arsonist either is a current member of the
Marine Corps, a former member
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of the Marine Corps, or
has a close association with the Marine Corps. So what do we do?
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We go to the Marine Corps. NARRATOR: Fire investigators
contacted the Naval Criminal
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Investigation Service about
the pair of Marine pants found across the street
from one of the arson fires.
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JAMES TRUSTY: When we went
down to the Naval yard to meet with the
NCIS investigators,
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I think we had fairly
thin hopes that they were actually going to
bring us a suspect.
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NARRATOR: But that opinion
was a bit premature. Naval investigators
said they too
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were searching for a serial
arsonist who had been setting fires to cars in a parking lot
used by military personnel.
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A surveillance
videotape showed a man leaving the scene in his car. From the license plate, he
was identified as 55-year-old
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Thomas Sweatt, a civilian who
had a friend in the Marines. Sweatt was unmarried
and worked as the night
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manager of a fast
food restaurant. DAVID STATTER: Never heard
Thomas Sweatt's name.
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When I found out
who he was, I'd been in his restaurant, in
that fast food restaurant,
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in Northeast
Washington many times. I was there on the opening
day of baseball in Washington.
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He probably served
me or was there. But I didn't know it. NARRATOR: Sweatt was never
charged in the military fires
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because there was insufficient
evidence against him. JAMES TRUSTY: There was not
really enough information,
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at this point of the
investigation of Mr. Sweatt, to get a search warrant,
to get court permission,
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to get his DNA. NARRATOR: So the
arson task force put Sweatt under
24-hour surveillance.
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In doing so, they discovered
Sweatt lived near the food store that used the
black shopping bags.
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PHILLIP PROCTOR: It's kind
of like Christmas morning. You're like, oh my goodness,
I can't believe this.
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We might be finished with this. NARRATOR: When Sweatt was
brought in for questioning,
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he denied any
involvement and willingly provided a DNA
sample for testing. JAMES TRUSTY: Frankly,
if he had not consented,
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that might have been a red flag
where we would have focused even more heavily on Mr. Sweatt.
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But he did consent. And that gave us the opportunity
to do a fairly speedy analysis
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to see if he was,
in fact, excluded or included as the
serial arsonist. NARRATOR: His DNA matched
the hair, the military pants,
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and the most incriminating
of all, the skin cells on the burnt wick. SCOTT FULKERSON: Mr. Sweatt
didn't realize that DNA could
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be recovered from a fire
that he had previously set. -You got to remember,
he's operating
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for a very long period
of time, on the run, offending, eluding
this massive manhunt.
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He may have been worn out. And that may have contributed. NARRATOR: When he learned of
the DNA evidence against him,
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Thomas Sweatt confessed to
not only the recent fires, but some dating back 25 years.
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SCOTT FULKERSON: It was
a very emotional time. It was a very
emotional interview.
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During that time, Mr.
Sweatt has provided us with over 350 fires in
which he is responsible.
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The fact that Mr. Sweat
had been undetected, had been untouched for
a period of 25 years,
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he is a prolific
serial arsonist. JAMES TRUSTY: This
could potentially be the largest serial
arsonist in the history
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of the United States. NARRATOR: Two people died
in those fires and dozens more were injured.
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JAMES TRUSTY: It was
a pretty astounding moment for all of us. You always hope that the
case is going to be solved.
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But when it actually
happens, there is a kind of moment
of stunned silence. NARRATOR: Investigators think
Sweatt had second thoughts
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about setting some of these
fires, which explains why the young men saw him
sitting on the porch.
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We'll never know what's
Sweatt told investigators about the motive for the fires.
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He asked for, and received,
a promise of confidentiality in exchange for his guilty plea.
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About the only thing
that came out in court was that Sweatt said,
he heard voices,
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and that he set fires
to relieve stress. DARLENE LLOYD: If the
demons in your head
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told you to set a fire, if you
were so stressed out that you had to set a fire,
why didn't you
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set your own mother's
house on fire? So see that's where you can't
say this man was insane.
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He had very good sense. He had sense enough
not to get caught. NARRATOR: Thomas
Sweatt was sentenced
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to two consecutive life terms
without parole plus another 135 years in prison, all because of
that rarest of forensic clues,
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DNA, that survived
the heat of a fire. PHILLIP PROCTOR: Just because
of the nature of an arson scene,
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the nature of the fire, to
find basically any evidence, is remarkable. To find some DNA evidence,
that is usable DNA evidence
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and being able to have
that evidence analyzed and go towards the case and to
help solve that case, is great.
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NARRATOR: The forensic evidence
is proof that even in a fire, a criminal leaves
some kind of trail.
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The trick is to find it. SCOTT HOGLANDER: There
aren't many cases that are, in history,
of this magnitude
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and investigative
techniques that were used, the task force concept,
how well it worked, I mean,
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it really is a model
that you're not going to see in any other area. RONAL TUNKEL: In many respects,
he was a guerrilla fighter.
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But he was up against
a superior army. And there was no
way he could win. So sooner or later,
he would be caught.
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[theme music]