#arsoninvestigation

[thestevenwickblog]

Crime News

A 38-year-old woman from Temple, Texas, has been indicted for allegedly setting fire to the Seattle Laestadian Lutheran Church in Maltby, Washington, resulting in the total destruction of the church #justice #JusticeDepartment #ArsonInvestigation #CrimeNews

Texas Woman Indicted for Arson That Destroyed Snohomish County Church - Wick & Co. News Media

The indictment, announced this week by U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman, outlines three felony charges against Odell: Damage to Religious Prope

[scarbo-author]

4N6Fact Friday: Who builds a building just to burn it down?

The ATF, that’s who. 

ATF which stands for Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, is a US Law Enforcement Agency under the jurisdiction of the Justice Department. They specialize in crimes related to alcohol, tobacco, firearms, explosives AND arson. 

“The longer a burglary lasts, the longer a murder lasts, the more forensic evidence they're going to leave behind them.That's what makes it so hard to do fire investigations because it's one of the only ones that destroys itself.” Chad Campanell, Special Agent, Certified Fire Investigator, ATF 

When you consider that, in addition to just setting something on fire, criminals also believe they can burn away evidence linking them to a different, perhaps more serious crime, you can see how crucial an arson investigation can be. The key point here is that arson investigators are trained to know what to look for and to find the evidence that can’t be destroyed. 

In many cases this training begins by building something for the sole purpose of setting it ablaze. Read about the ATF lab which houses “the largest forensic tool in the world” -- a room where ATF investigators can build a two-story house, trick it out with data gathering devices, then burn it down while they record and study the process. 

What’s also interesting is how investigators search find evidence of accelerants after a fire.