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...
