Description

Welcome to Mysteries to Die For.

I am TG Wolff and am here with Jack, my piano player and producer. This is a podcast where we combine storytelling with original music to put you in the heart of a mystery. All stories are structured to challenge you to beat the detective to the solution. Jack and I perform these live, front to back, no breaks, no fakes, no retakes.

The rules for law and order create the boundaries for civil co-existence and, ideally, the backdrops for individuals, families, and companies to grow and thrive. Breaking these rules puts civil order at risk. And while murder is the Big Daddy of crimes, codified ordinances across municipal divisions, counties, states, and countries show the nearly endless ways there are to create mayhem. This season, we put our detective skills to the test. This is Season 8, Anything but Murder.

This is Episode 16, house arson is the featured crime. This is First Reports are Rarely Right by Larry M. Keeton

DELIBERATION

Drake has a hot one on his hands and needs our help to put the pieces together on this arson case. (Then maybe Cassandra will keep hiring him.) Here are the people on his suspect list in the order we met them:

• Jack Phillips, owner of the house and disgruntled claimant
• Commissioner Donna Russell, the Hummer-driving road hog
• Teresa Kamps, HOA president who lives across from Phillips
• Rachel Quinn, the Fire Marshall recently promoted to Code Compliance

Here are the facts as Drake has unearthed them:

• Jack Phillips inherited his parents’ home after their too early death. He blames HOA president Teresa Kamps for it. In retaliation, he’s let the home run down, just to be an eye sore;
• On his visit to Phillips, who owns a 30-acre property, Drake was run off the road by a Hummer with a re-election sign on the door for Donna Russell;
• While interviewing Phillips, Drake sees a collection of pagers that Phillips says he uses to track delivery of restored cars to international buyers;
• The first report found cause of the house fire to be errant fireworks. Drake and Cassandra found inconsistencies between the original photos and what Drake finds on scene;
• Under protective sheets are untouched boxes and furniture Phillips is listing in his insurance claim;
• Phillips states recent maintenance was limited to spraying the roof to protect against moss. It was determined that zinc was used, which is highly flammable;
• HOA president Teresa Kamps had a 4th of July party that included Donna Russell. She denies setting fire to the house. She admits flying her drone but says she does not spy. There are opinions to the contrary.
• While Drake is inspecting, a second fire ignites from the baseboard heaters. Inspection after the fact uncovered batteries and melted plastic boxes and pager components in the heaters;
• Rachel Quinn was the original Fire Marshal on the case. She was also the woman on Phillips computer background. She was recently promoted to Code Compliance and her first action is to use a newly passed code to tear down the twice-burned house;
• Phillips and the county just negotiated the sale of the 30-acre property for $1.3 million dollars;
• Jack Phillips just wants what the insurance company owes him;
• Donna Russell is behind on her re-election bid and wants the HOA for their votes;
• Teresa Kamps wants the eye-sore gone from across the street;
• Rachel Quinn wants the promotion and to get Commissioner Russell off her back; and
• The county Fire Marshal noted arson is the least prosecuted crimes and it was difficult to determine who had the most to gain.

How should Drake re-write the report to get it right the second time?

ABOUT True Crim House Arson

From my favorite source Wikipedia, comes the curated story of Thomas Sweatt. In 2005, Sweatt was arrested for serial arson. Sweatt plead guilty to counts including:

• Possession of destructive devices
• Destruction of building by fire resulting in personal injury
• Possession of destructive devices in furtherance of a crime of violence;
• First-degree premeditated murder (felony murder)
• Second-degree murder

In his plea, Sweatt admitted to setting fires for over 30 years. Most were set in 2003 and 2004, Sweatt in the DC area. Sweatt admitted to setting 353 fires. All of his fires resulted in property damage and some personal injury. But three fires resulted in the deaths of four people. In 1985, Sweatt poured gasoline under the front door of the house where Roy Picott and his family lived. Picott’s sons who had basement bedrooms were able to escape unharmed. His daughters, who slept on the second floor, survived with severe burns. Picott and his wife did not survive.

In 2002, 93-year old Annie Brown’s house was Sweatt’s target. At four in the morning, DC fire responded to the house fire. They transported Ms. Brown to the hospital. She died over a week later from her injuries. A little more than a year later, 85-year old Lou Edna Jones was the victim. She was pronounced dead at the hospital.

For his crimes, Sweatte received the mandatory sentence of life in prison.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Sweatt

ABOUT Larry M. Keeton

Retired Army Officer, County Chief of Staff, and Director of a department that included Code Compliance and Fire Investigations, Larry M. Keeton has plenty of unique characters and situations upon which to base his stories. 51 years of marriage to his watercolorist wife has provided him with ample lessons of dialogue best suited for the printed page. His works have appeared in Mystery Magazine, and Season 7 of Mysteries to Die For, and most recently, the 2024 Derringer Nominated Anthology, Larceny and Last Chances. He thanks Fire Marshal David Lynam and Assistant Fire Marshal Tina Turner for their technical expertise. His website is https://larrykeetonwriter.com.

WRAP UP

That wraps this episode of Mysteries to Die For. Support our show by subscribing, telling a mystery lover about us, and giving us a five-star review. Check out our website m2d4podcast.com for links to this season’s authors.

The anthology for the second half of this season releases in October. Add it to your Christmas, Hanukkah, or your To Be Read list.

Mysteries to Die For is hosted by TG Wolff and Jack Wolff. First Reports are Rarely Right was written by Larry M. Keeton. Music and production are by Jack Wolff. Episode art is by TG Wolff. Join us next week for a Toe Tag, which is the first chapter from a fresh release in the mystery, crime, or thriller genre. Then come back in two weeks for our next original story where art theft is our murderless crime. It’s…Was It the Vermeer? By Erica Obey.