
An arsonist who set Washington on fire in 1985 (2007) - myrrh
http://www.alternet.org/story/53378/why_thomas_sweatt_set_washington_on_fire
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cantrevealname
This out-of-the-box thinking by the investigators caught my attention:

"Investigators knew from the bags left behind at the fire scenes that the
arsonist shopped at convenience stores. From the wreckage of a Northeast car
fire investigators pulled the remnants of a black plastic bag. The company
supplied their black bags to just two shops in the D.C. area. Investigators
put cameras in both stores.

With the cooperation of the owner of the two Circle 7 stores, agents affixed
thumbnail-size stainless steel chips to the bottom of every bag in both
stores. Each chip was marked according to alphanumeric code, going in order
through the stack. If one of the bags were to be involved in a fire, the chip
would survive. And because agents went to the stores daily to track which bags
had been used, they would be able to go to the video to see which customer had
purchased the bag from the fire."

The above was not how the arsonist was caught. (He was caught due to his car
being captured on video leaving the scene of a fire. Having found a suspect,
the investigators matched his DNA to DNA extracted from clothing he'd used as
wicks in setting some of the fires.)

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kirsebaer
Wow, this is so messed up, he admits to masterbating after setting fire to
random people's houses. It's like this onion story:
[http://www.theonion.com/video/crime-reporter-finds-way-of-
li...](http://www.theonion.com/video/crime-reporter-finds-way-of-linking-
warehouse-fire-14371)

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luke1972
WTActualF?

