SIU Today Winter 2019 - 16
LESSONS FROM A
SERIAL ARSONIST
By Jessica Davis
For well over two decades, a serial arsonist terrorized the
Washington D.C. area as well as parts of Maryland and Virginia.
A pattern began to emerge from these fires, which included
the type structure, point of origin and time of day that became
frightening to local fire investigators! In response to this public
crisis, a multi-jurisdictional task force was assembled to identify
and stop the person or persons responsible. An interview was
conducted with the retired ATF Agent that co-led the arson task
force and this article will summarize this challenging case as
well as provide some useful insight into managing such a large,
complex, multi-jurisdictional case for insurance investigators to
utilize in the future.
The National Fire Protection Association defines arson as "The
crime of maliciously and intentionally, or recklessly, starting a fire
or causing an explosion." The act of arson is one of the hardest
crimes to prove, mainly due to the fact the physical evidence is
destroyed during the crime itself. The clearance rate for arson
is as low as 18% to 20% compared to the murder clearance rate
of around 60%. Investigators of all kinds have traditionally been
taught the motives for arson include financial gain, concealment of
another crime, and revenge. With regards to serial arsonists, past
16 | SIU TODAY | WINTER 2019
lessons have shown they tend to follow a pattern when choosing
their targets and how they physically set the fire. Behavioral
scientists have profiled typical serial arsonists as white males
in their thirties and generally loners. Thomas Sweatt did not
exhibit the typical indicators of an arsonist, which is one reason
why he was deemed the most prolific and dangerous arsonist in
American history.
In the spring of 2003, fire officials from Prince George's County and
the D.C. Bureau of Fire Investigation started to share information
about multiple fires around their mutual geographic border.
They reviewed the list of similarities, including the fires occurred
early in the morning, typically between 1:00 am and 6:00 am,
they were all set at single-family dwellings, all of the fires were
set near a point of entry or on a porch, and they were in similar
types of neighborhoods (Riffe, 2018). A task force consisting of
fifty-five (55) investigators was generated after these meetings
and was turned toward a criminal investigation in 2003. The
task force included a plethora of police and fire departments
from Maryland, Virginia, Prince George's County, Washington
D.C., and of course the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and
Firearms (ATF).
SIU Today Winter 2019
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