Instead, Sweatt appeared to relish the ride-along, as if a weight was being lifted. )For Sweatt, different fires grew out of different feelings -- many out of a sense of powerlessness, others out of spite, some even out of love -- but more than anything else, his decades-long rampage was about sexual fantasy:Why did I set the fires when I set them? (Investigators have confirmed assigning agents at that location. Through years of research and combing through several hundred letters written by Tom, Jonathan Riffe has put together this in-depth, never-seen-before biography of the man named the most prolific and dangerous serial arsonist inAmerican history. Behind the mask of this crazy, perverted, demented, killer serial arsonist is Thomas Sweatt, an African American homosexual loner in his late fifties who worked at various fast-food joints throughout his lifetime and turned Washington, DC, upside down into a living hell. Was it just another voyeuristic impulse he was acting on? The shorts are written by Eric Branscum, and the series features the UK voice cast in both . The sight of a cruiser could make him feel powerless and slighted, so he torched them around town.I burned police cruisers parked at the station and some that were at their residence. Finally, he asked him point blank: "Did you set the fires? View More. Vacant-building fires, home fires, store fires. That was about 30n40 minutes. Sweatt often tossed incendiary devices into police cars and then watched them burn. "Thomas Sweatt: Inside the Mind of D.C.'s Most Notorious Arsonist" i. s also available in # ebook format. A light snow dusted the streets. Fulkerson said Sweatt managed to stay under the radar for so many years because he didnt fit the accepted profile of a serial arsonist white, older and feeling wronged by society. The more Rodney read, the more assured he was that Sweatt was the man the detective had told him about. Trying to reconcile these two people would be the fundamental crisis of his life. They were Circle 7 convenience stores: One on Kenilworth Avenue NE, the other on Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue SE, just a short walk from the old Kenny & Paul's Barber Shop. DNA evidence led to the arrest Wednesday of a serial arson suspect wanted in connection with more than 40 fires since March 8, 2003. [1], On Thursday, August 4, 2005, two fatal arson cases in the District of Columbia were closed with the arrest of 50-year-old Thomas Sweatt of the 500 blocks in Lebaum Street SE. The Martin Luther King Jr. Day service at St. James A.M.E. Zion Church in Allentown marked a day of celebration and reflection. Following his arrest in April 2005, Sweatt admitted to setting fires for more than 30 years. radcliff ky city council candidates 2020 They saw a strange man sitting on their front porch. As far as psychological profiling goes, they were nearly spot-on. In his letters to me from prison, Sweatt often would ask how "Scott" and "Bob" were doing, expressing nothing but respect and gratitude toward the investigators who had put him away.Sweatt signed a secret guilty plea within two weeks of his arrest. He was absolutely exhausted. He left behind a plastic shopping bag; in it was a gasoline-filled juice jug that had a piece of cloth tied to the handle. Thomas W.H.A. But, it's like I'm feeling really upbeat and excited to write about the past (for there is no future)! The story begins on a Tuesday: February 26, 1946, when Heman Marion Sweatt appeared at the Office of the Registrar of The University of Texas at Austin, seeking admission to the School of Law. Longtime friends Sarah Harris and Morgan O'Brien sit down weekly to explore true crime and murder, so grab your headphones and binge with us! I thought for sure we had lost some firefighters, Maggiolo recalled. Investigators named him the "most prolific and dangerous serial arsonist in American history." Dozens of authors, TV producers, and movie producers tried to contact Thomas in prison but were all unsuccessful. In exchange for his full accounting, Sweatt agreed to be imprisoned for life plus 136 years on a selected number of offenses he admitted to in court. Sweatt told Blackwell he was "sorry for all the headaches." Then I'd masterbate over the fire while driving away from the schene. Outside, Sweatt watched as an older woman hung from an upper-floor window, apparently gasping for air.I can still see her, he wrote.The Blair Road fire never fully destroyed its starting device -- a shopping bag, a gallon-jug, and a swatch from a pair of black slacks. No matter -- he never went inside McGuire's. Each fire was like doing the first time and I'd always take deep breaths and ask the Lord to forgive me for what I'm about to doEach one was special in its own way.***In the spring of 2003, Sweatt paid a price for his jurisdiction-hopping. But it is what it is and life goes on. In 2013, Fulkerson spoke to the International Association of Arson Investigators in Las Vegas and used Sweatt as a case study in solving tough crimes. Photos. It revolves around Thomas using his thirteen magical birthday wishes to help his friends while they set up a surprise birthday party without his knowledge. 0 Add Rating Anonymously. fatal accident crown point. Dr. Thomas Sweat, MD is a Cardiology Specialist in Jeffersonville, IN and has over 34 years of experience in the medical field. In an industry with an astronomical turnover rate -- the average fast-food worker quits or gets fired within four months -- Sweatt would devote a rather astonishing 12 years to the same KFC location, most of it spent hovering over the grill and grease fryers and struggling to keep the kitchen clean.New employees at the KFC found a cook manning an immaculate station. He was known as one of the better KFC cooks in the metro area.That fact didn't impress many people, but it meant a lot to Sweatt. And then I drive across the street to the Fire Station and tape them also -- mostly close-up (Not fat or out of shape workers, but built muscular and nice feet) this you can't understand because these are some of the phantasy.He set fire to recruiter stations as far away as Richmond. Born in 14 Mar 1849 and died in 12 Jun 1923 Williamston, South Carolina Thomas Elijah Sweatt Father of William Rufus Sweatt. ISBN: 978-1-68401-626-6. At the same time, he never really accepted it.He thought duty and courage were beautiful things, and nothing embodied those traits so crisply as a military uniform. Credit Solution Experts Incorporated offers quality business credit building services, which includes an easy step-by-step system designed for helping clients build their business credit effortlessly. Thomas Sweatt, 50, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to first-degree murder in the death of Lou Edna Jones, 86, who died of smoke inhalation from a fire in her Washington home in June 2003 . If one of the bags were to be involved in a fire, the chip would survive. As you noticed it was again aluminumWell Dave, I hope I've tickal your mind a little! That's not the way that fire started. Still, he wanted to meet the stranger. ***For more than two decades, the survivors of the fire at Quincy Place never knew that Sweatt was responsible for it. He sped there in his own car. That has happened to a manager before. There was just one stop to make -- at the gas station, where he topped off an empty 2-liter soda bottle with gasoline, then threw it into his bag along with a towel.He parked near Quincy Place and got out of the car with his bag. "There's a learning curve like anything else," says Scott Fulkerson, an agent with ATF who served as one of the lead investigators on the case. In it Sweatt wrote that he went to the funeral for Bessie Mae Duncan. 3Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him . He died in June 1972, in Nashville, Davidson, Tennessee . I had a special friend, we use to go to clubs almost every night drinking and smoking. "I gave them a copy of the letter and left. Investigators visited nearby businesses hoping to find any video recordings that might offer clues to the fire. He would hang around the city bus depots and watch the drivers as they started their routes. Jail cant be any worst than the life I had then and believe it or not life is pretty much the same, it just I'm not free to go wherever I want to.The investigators who debriefed Sweatt after his arrest were floored by his recall of years-old blazes, which almost invariably squared with official reports and witness accounts. DC Fire and EMS personnel responded to 2800 Evarts Street NE for the report of a house fire. KFC was very stressful and I had little time for anything else. The causes of the Jan. 11, 1985, fire that killed Duncan and Picott and of some of the other arsons ordinarily would have remained a secret between investigators and the families of those affected. Why? Sweatt came under suspicion in 2003 after police linked shards of evidence from different fires a strand of hair, a pair of pants, parts of the jug he used to set the fires. She'd been asphyxiated by smoke, her feet burned from trying to escape.Investigators assumed the arsonist saw his fires in the news. Some homes were rowhouses, others were detached; most bore aluminum siding, but others were brick; a few were large apartment buildings, others single-family. He sometimes lingered at the scenes of fires he'd set himself, capturing footage with his camera. zodiac: Aquarius. The real world may have dismissed Sweatt as a soldier, but in his mind he made himself one.I always wanted to wear a military uniform, he wrote.In his time off from KFC, he would drive out of the city to military recruiter stations. The restaurant sat along a busy yet particularly dreary stretch of highway, where there were plenty of gas stations but no semblance of a neighborhood. He probably would have had the tidiest locker in the barracks.Sweatt once tried to enlist in the Navy, in 1976, when he was 21 years old. Sweatt hadn't been considered a suspect in that fire until investigators discovered a news clip about the blaze in his apartment.One of Sweatt's only requests was to meet Blackwell, the task force spokesman who had addressed Sweatt through the media. Thomas A. Sweatt is a convicted serial arsonist. Each fire had been important to him, and telling its story was one way for him to relive its excitement.As he wrote more, he started to discuss his motives and share with me, as he put it, the mind of an arsonist. But that same night I went cruising up Geogia Ave and picked up this young guy named Tyrone.We became best of friends until I became obsessed with him which drove me to set his house afire (actually his aunts house on Peabody + 3rd -- She was slightly injured and the house was damaged just the basement where he lived. Of course I see Evart St each and every night, he wrote, in reference to the fire that killed Jones. He is currently imprisoned at United . Sweatt liked him immediately. The most prolific and dangerous serial arsonist in American history.. Jump to. But the D.C. arsonist's fires were scattered; their locations suggested that the firesetter liked greenery near the homes he burned and that he preferred low-income and working-class neighborhoods. He is currently serving his sentence at the . But I got through it." This case was filed in Orange County Superior Courts, Central Justice Center located in Orange, California. "Why would somebody do that?" Thomas was born in Muncie, Indiana to the proud parents of Otha Sweatt and Kathleen Porter (Holcomb), One October morning in 2003, someone called 911 to report a fire on the front porch of a home on Otis Street NE. Shortly before 5 one morning in November 2003, he lit a gallon jug of gasoline on fire at a house in Alexandria. He never forgot the rejection. Firefighter Jonathan Riffe interviewed an imprisoned arsonist over three years for his book "Thomas Sweatt: Inside the Mind of D.C.'s Most Notorious Arsonist . Thomas Powderly's birthday is 06/11/1960 and is 62 years old. "At times Sweatt choked up and cried. Investigators named him the "most prolific and dangerous serial arsonist in American history." Dozens of authors, TV producers, and movie producers tried to contact Thomas in prison but were all unsuccessful. Fire is a tool to destroy and some house fires also becomes my phantasy of people scrambling to exit windows and sort-of feel like they need my help so I stay and watch. As with most sociopaths, he likes to brag: An investigator recalls D.C.s deadly serial arsonist, Kyle Kuzma, Wizards start fast and dont look back in win over Raptors, Nationals relievers see benefit in tinkering with new pitches, Roger Goodell, Muriel Bowser discussed future of RFK site in December call. This past week, D.C. police revived the story by announcing that a detective assigned to solving cold cases had uncovered new details in the Quincy Place fire. Make a one-time contribution to Alternet All Access, Why the Satanic Temple is unlikely to defeat made-up religious exemptions and white saviorism, 'Solutions must be rooted in facts': Gen-Z congressman easily dismantles top GOP anti-immigration talking point, 'My party leadership has left me': Trump-backed NJ Senator leaves GOP to join Democrats, TN House Republicans 'uncomfortable' with Dem. That was the end of it. 14 ratings2 reviews. Shadwick , Colten Thomas 2/24/1989 2463 W Francis Spring Rd - Whitwell, TN Shadwick , George Leslie 4/10/1944 10956 Eustice Road - Soddy Daisy, TN Shaffern-bardwick , Patrici Unknown 2624 Marlette Street - Sarasota, FL Shahan , Brandy L 8/12/1993 1325 Wilson Rd Lot #2 - Rossville, GA . Physical objects themselves had a way of stirring his feelings, sometimes more than people. The wick burned plastic for more than 20 minutes and after the fire consumed the container, gas fumes escaped and caught fire. My mind started to think of evil thing to do in that neighborhood. Ive been to thousands of fires, but theres some that just stand out in your mind. There were different reasons for most of the fires. There was a level of education. Each chip was marked according to alphanumeric code, going in order through the stack. After he agreed to complete a court-ordered diversion program, the government dropped its case). "Despite its cleverness, the arsonist's method had an inherent flaw. "It was his time to finally be honest with himself and recognize who he was," says Fulkerson. February 17, 2023. Neighbors gathered in front of the house as officials sorted the wreckage, and they broke into sobs when the body was found inside the house around dawn. When he was on the receiving end of a bad haircut at Kenny & Paul's Barber Shop, he came back later and torched the place. The company supplied their black bags to just two shops in the D.C. area. The lab work linked four of the fires for certain, and another 15 recent fires were deemed similar-looking.Victims appeared to have nothing to do with one another. He wanted to meet him.He tailed the stranger beneath the train overpass, over New York Avenue and North Capitol Street, and up to a brick rowhouse on Quincy Place NW, where it abuts Florida Avenue. Was it the hope of seeing Roy Picott again? The official fire report at the time mistakenly blamed a dropped cigarette for the reason the fire started. By accepting our use of cookies, your data will be aggregated with all other user data. Anything dealing with motive in this story comes directly from Sweatt's letters. "Sweatt answered with a question of his own: "Why would I set those beautiful homes on fire when I'm trying to become a homeowner myself? I was glad no one got hurt for this was not a good fire -- the Lady + her child were safe. His firesetting was based on convenience, and when it came to finding a wick, nothing was more convenient than a swatch from his own clothes. Last Reviewed September 22, 2016. Usually, the post-arrest ride-along engenders shame in a perp; it's a plea condition to be endured. In 1989, when walking home from work, Sweatt stumbled upon a man he found attractive, so he followed him home. Burial locations has been graciously donated by Norma Baugh, Chesterfield Co, SC Historian. The Arrest and Adjudication. Sometimes, a recruiter or recruiters would leave the company cars unlocked at night and I come back and sit inside and take a lot of stuff (papers, ID cards, uniforms and wear the jackets home).The new station had a good view also -- for I use to park on the parking lot during business hours and watch the traffic in and out -- including video taping the recruiters going + coming. The only sign that someone had lived in it within the last decade was a dilapidated sidewalk memorial to "Mama Lou" Jones, marking the years she lived, 1916-2003, and the pink and white plastic flowers still sitting in clusters outside the chain-link fence. Sweatt found a thrill in walking among the agents who were hunting him, his ego satisfied knowing he was always a step ahead. or click here to become a subscriber. Never before had a detective questioned Sweatt about any of them.After sentencing, Sweatt was quickly sent to the United States Penitentiary at Terre Haute, the famously rough prison where Timothy McVeigh was put to death. But Sweatt has repeatedly boasted of his crimes in letters to a Washington City Paper reporter, and his case was showcased on television true-crime shows and in a book. It was a more difficult day for the family.. "It required some experience with fires to get to that point, where he was comfortable. An autopsy performed by the DC Office of the Chief Medical Examiner determined the cause of death to be smoke inhalation and the manner of death to be a homicide. "We couldn't figure out where it started," Cheryl said. Even though the cloth from the slacks had been burned and charred, the technician was able to extract a trace amount of DNA that, for some reason, never succumbed to the heat.The DNA from the apartment fire matched the DNA taken from the attempted fire at the boys' house on Anacostia Avenue in D.C. At the task force headquarters there was a brief spell of euphoria. 1.51 3.44 /5. Members of the Fifth District received a radio assignment for a house fire at 1208 Montello Avenue NE. I just couldn't see myself trying to run a fast-food joint at 60-plus. Sweatt's was the KFC you stopped at if you were getting out of town on Route 50 East.Dave I lived one day at a time. "Letters From an Arsonist," is an investigative account and narrative about serial arsonist, Thomas Sweatt. ***Southeast wasn't a bad place for a firebug to live. He had emotional reactions to the newscasts, lashing out at residents who told reporters offhandedly that the arsonist needed mental help. Wow! The arsonist apparently hoped to kill or at least terrify the people inside.By mid-July 2003, investigators were looking at about two dozen recent fires, including one that killed an 86-year-old Washington woman. Try reaching Thomas at carol.demarzo@yahoo.com. A shackled Sweatt shook his hand.Fulkerson and Luckett spent an additional four days driving Sweatt around to old D.C. fire scenes and listening to his stories. On the second floor of the house, the stranger (Roy Picott), his wife (Bessie Mae Duncan), daughter, and stepdaughter were all sleeping. Thomas Sweatt, a restaurant manager, would later be known as DC's worst serial arsonist, responsible for several fatal arson cases spanning nearly thirty years. He is currently serving his sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution in Terre Haute, Indiana. The newspaper account of the fire revealed that Roy Picott was in critical condition, having sustained burns over 60 percent of his body. Years later, Sweatt told City Paper that after his chance encounter with Picott on the street, he decided he liked him; he later confessed to fantasizing about his victims being caught in the flames. The police chief identified Sweatt as the prime suspect, although no charges have been filed, and none may ever be, given the age of the case and the hurdles of proving that the clues were not derived from the plea talks in 2005. Leave your condolences to the family on this memorial page or send flowers to show you care. . Or was it the guilt of a young man, then just 30, who had to know he'd cause more heartache before the fires stopped? And you're right Dave why would they paint that house purple! He was formally charged in both cases with second-degree murder while armed. He was arrested in 2005. It was not an easy day for us, Fulkerson said. From the street Sweatt could hear one of the boys hollering for help at a basement window. On the front porch the man stood in nothing but his underwear.I was glad to see him again and wanted to help but the firetrucks were coming, Sweatt would write.The man had escaped through a window -- but not before suffering asphyxia from the smoke as well as first-, second-, and third-degree burns over 60 percent of his body. In two different fires, elderly women were unable to escape and later died. It was like, go to work (sometimes all day) come home, eat and go to sleep -- wake up early hours in the a.m. and go hunting for a fire!repeat that over + over again.Toiling away in the cellar of the service industry affirmed what he'd believed since childhood -- that he was an oddball, the lone failure in an otherwise successful clan. He is currently serving his sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution in Terre Haute, Indiana. )I was unable to locate a Roy Picott, but I found a Rodney Picott, 40, and his sister, Cheryl Legros (formerly Cheryl Picott), 41, living near Nyack, N.Y.Both of them had been in the house during the fire.When I spoke on the phone with Rodney, he seemed unsettled by the fact that a reporter had questions about a 22-year-old fire. When the nearby school let out in the afternoon the kids would pile through the door and tear the place up, complicating things by ordering pizzas (it was a KFCnPizza Hut hybrid). Agents from the Naval Criminal Investigative Services (NCIS) couldn't offer them DNA profiles of current Marines, but they did have a couple of leads on old barracks-related car fires. Even here on my record it states personality disorder. "He just wanted it over with." "Fulkerson asked Sweatt to submit to a DNA test, and he agreed.When Sweatt went home he destroyed his diary of fires. In 2005, Thomas A. Sweatt admitted in court to setting 45 fires across the Washington region, claiming two lives. The first offense occurred at approximately 4:05am on Tuesday, February 5, 2002. Investigators put cameras in both stores and started what they called the "Black Bag Operation." This was a good fire because the guy who lived there was handsome and a college student. Letters From an Arsonist. But that was the good part of "Tom" that people saw and only knew. As the last ones walked out, Maggiolo said, the cornice collapsed, engulfing them in dust and debris. The gasoline itself acted as a coolant, letting the device burn as slow and steady as a kerosene lamp. 4 talking about this. Immediate Family: Son of Gadi Sweatt and Ellenor Sweatt. "He's right about too much," Rodney said -- like the fact that the house remained a shell for years.
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