Module 3 - Arson and Explosives

During the 1980s and early 1990s, a string of baffling arson fires in Southern California, USA, took the lives of four people and caused more than several million dollars damage. The identity of the person responsible for these horrendous crimes was a shock to everyone.

On an afternoon in October 1984, a major fire occurred in a hardware store in South Pasadena, California, USA. The store was completely destroyed and four people, including a two year-old child, died in the blaze. All but one of the fire investigators assigned to the case thought the cause of the fire was faulty electrical wiring. The one fire investigator who disagreed was John Orr, the Captain of the Arson Unit with the Glendale Fire Department. Orr insisted very early in the investigation that the cause of the fire was arson. Although initial findings did not support Orr’s assumption, further investigation revealed that the fire was started by an expert in fire setting. The arsonist started a small fire in an area of the store in which polyurethane products such as varnish and glue were stored. Because of the highly flammable nature of these products, the fire spread so quickly that four people died. The arsonist was not caught, and as time passed, more fires were set.

The next series of fires set by the arsonist occurred during January 1987 in Los Angeles. No one was killed or injured in these fires, but they caused thousands of dollars damage. Each fire occurred in the middle of the day at various businesses and each was started with a time-delayed device. Ironically, the fires were set during a major arson investigators conference in nearby Fresno, a city near Los Angeles. Luckily for investigators, a fingerprint on a small piece of paper inside a small time-delay explosive device was discovered at one of the fires. However, the single print could not be matched to any criminals in the fingerprint database that investigators used. Evidently, the suspect had no criminal record.

In March 1989, another four arsons occurred in various cities along the southern California coast. Yet again, the arsons were caused by time-delayed devices and they occurred the same time as a conference of arson investigators in nearby Pacific Grove. This raised suspicions that the culprit was possibly an arson investigator from the Los Angeles area. Working with this assumption, investigators compared a list of attendees from the Fresno conference with the list of attendees from the Pacific Grove conference. By April 1991, a short list of ten suspects was compiled. Each suspect was asked for fingerprints. All the arson experts on this short list except Captain John Orr of the Glendale Fire Department were cleared of suspicion when their prints were compared with the fingerprint from the Fresno fire.

Orr then became the subject of an intensive investigation and surveillance until his arrest. Investigators installed a tracking device behind his dashboard when he had his vehicle serviced in November 1991. Shortly thereafter, in December 1991 when Orr was tracked to the scene of another suspicious fire before dispatchers were made aware of the blaze. The surveillance ended, and an arrest warrant was obtained.

Bizarre pieces of evidence used to convict John Orr included

• secret videotapes taken by Orr of suspicious fires including those he was accused of starting
• an unpublished manuscript written by Orr about a serial arsonist who is a fire investigator (This manuscript contained detailed descriptions of many of the fires Orr was accused of setting.)

In July 1992, a jury found John Orr guilty of three counts of arson; he was sentenced to thirty years in prison. Orr adamantly maintained his innocence; however, he still pleaded guilty to three other counts of arson in March 1993. In June 1998, a jury convicted Orr of four counts of first-degree murder for the 1984 Fresno fire. As a result, he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

In 2003, a novel about John Orr entitled Fire Lover: A True Story was written by acclaimed crime novelist Joseph Wambaugh. This novel was later adapted into an HBO movie entitled Point of Origin in which Ray Liotta portrayed the serial arsonist John Orr.

Related Case Study Questions

1. In the deadly 1984 arson fire, was John Orr’s assumption correct about the cause of the fire? Explain.
   Ans.  Orr insisted very early that the cause of the fire was arson. Initial findings did not support Orr’s assumption. However, further investigation confirmed this and revealed that the fire was started by someone who was an expert in fire setting.
2. What piece of individualized evidence linked the culprit directly with the arson fire?
   Ans.  A fingerprint on a small piece of paper inside a small time-delay explosive device at one of the fires linked the culprit with the fire.
3. How did investigators create a short list of arson suspects?
   Ans.  Investigators compared a list of attendees from the Fresno arson investigation conference with the list of attendees from the Pacific Grove arson investigation conference.
4. What finally lead investigators to arrest John Orr?
   Ans.  Orr was arrested when he was tracked to the scene of another suspicious fire before dispatchers were made aware of the blaze.