Check out never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms placed a tracking device on his vehicle to catch him in the act, but to no avail. The narrative includes a scene of a firea fire that bore several striking similarities to the real-life 1984 blaze in South Pasadena. So he set off his own diabolical scheme playing both sides of the law. He ought to know; he'd set the fire himself. The Pillow Pyro Taskforce was set-up and detectives suspected the arsonist was possibly one of their own, because the perpetrator displayed an intimate knowledge of setting fires. Related: Terrifyingly Real: 8 Award-Winning True Crime Books. Infamous Serial Killers. Imprisoned at. John Leonard Orr was a well-respected arson investigator in Southern California he conducted fire investigation classes, was active with the first investigation team, wrote articles for magazines and often spoke on local TV when a fire broke out. Theres a fire!. Construction. During his arson spree, John Orr was given the nickname the Pillow Pyro by arson investigators. He has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. His grandfather promised him they would have their treat after they finished shopping, and they walked through the entry door. and gorgeous blooms of fire. At 7:30 P.M. on an October evening in South Pasadena, California, a middle-aged couple, Billy and Ada Deal, and their two-and-a-half-year-old grandson, Matthew William Troidl, pulled into the strip mall parking lot of Oles Home Center on Fair Oaks Avenue. John Leonard Orr (born April 26, 1949) is an American former firefighter, novelist, and convicted arsonist and mass murderer. Scott Baker of the California State Fire Marshal's Office was at that meeting, and told Campuzanno about the series of arsons investigated by Casey and about Casey's suspicions that the perpetrator was an arson investigator from the Los Angeles area. Yes! He knew there were steps to an emergency exit in the back stockroom. [3] On the following day, arson investigators from around southern California converged on the destroyed store, and declared the cause to be an electrical fire. 1. He is a TEACHER! Yes, it must be a closing announcement, he thought. Juni 2022. "Arson: The Scorched-Earth Obsession - Newsweek Magazine, November 5, 2007. Arson investigators examined the ruins and determined that the fire was caused by an electrical malfunction. Is anyone feeling that the mom has strong narcissistic vibes, I worked on both cases. The True Crime Database is an ongoing project, with thousands of hours of research already invested. A&E Television Networks, "Firebug, New Podcast from Marc Smerling's Truth Media, Unravels Story of Serial Arsonist Burning Down Southern California - Sony Music", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Leonard_Orr&oldid=1141481030, Federal: Transferred to CA custody in 2002, This page was last edited on 25 February 2023, at 08:00. All except John Leonard Orr, who disagreed with that finding and expressed his frustration, insisting the cause was deliberate and claimed they were dealing with an arsonist. [21] Furthermore, arson investigators determined that after Orr was arrested, the number of brush fires in the nearby foothill areas decreased by more than 90 percent. The defence read out a position of his manuscript which read, Aaron wanted the Cals fire to be called arson. Frank C . Copyright 2021 The True Crime Database. The district court found the manuscript was prejudicial because "the points of origin and methods of starting the arson fires described in the manuscript do not appear to the Court to be so unique as to justify the conclusion that defendant must have had first-hand . McClure had found the point of origin easily enough, in the grocery racks piled high with bags of potato chips. Yukio Yamaji / Said he could not forget the feeling of killing his mother. In the nearby town of Tulare, another drugstore and fabric shop went up in flames, followed by a fire which broke out in a display of dried flowers in a Bakersfield crafts shop. He was a man who understood how fires spread and how firefighters responded to and fought blazes. Deadly Secrets A Fire Inside, airs at 9:00 p.m. on Investigation Discovery. Amongst the names on the list was John Leonard Orr, the Glendale fire Captain. As he betrayed his department and the citizens of Southern California he swore to protect, hed swagger onto arson scenes to solve investigations with stunning speed and accuracy. He became fascinated by fires and firefighters as a child after witnessing a house set ablaze in his neighborhood. A lot of true crime and music but I throw in life stuff too for the times I need a greater understanding of why Im like this. The findings of the hardware store investigation showed that the fire caught very quickly, less than five minutes after starting, and spread across the entire Pasadena hardware store in highly-flammable polyurethane products which caused the fire the flashover rapidly. And then he headed toward the front of the store, assuming that Ada Deal and her grandson were following behind him. Of course, Orr was never quite as clever as he thought. They want to take revenge sometimes and that is one of the motives of arsonists is revenge. why did john leonard orr start fires. "It's an exciting thing to do and it's a dangerous thing to do and it does draw attention to them. A jury found him guilty, and he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. [23] Orr maintains his innocence, notwithstanding his subsequent guilty plea on March 24, 1993, to three more counts of arson in Los Angeles after reaching a plea agreement that saw him paroled from federal prison in 2002. John Leonard Orr (born April 26, 1949) is an American former firefighter, novelist, and convicted arsonist and mass murderer. $61.00. Federal ATF agent Mike Matassa believes that Orr set nearly 2,000 fires between 1984 and 1991, and some arson investigators and an FBI criminal profiler have suspected Orr could possibly be one of the worst American serial arsonists of the 20th century. Featured photo: Glendale Fire Department; Additional images: Wikipedia; "Forensic Files" via Medstar Television. After hed ordered his firefighters off the roof of the hardware store, and after the interior attack was aborted, Captain Eisele found John Orr standing at the rear of his engine carrying a thirty-five-millimeter camera. Orr studied fire science at a local college and worked at a 7-Eleven and as store security at Sears part time. His parents divorced when he was young. [20], After his arrest, arson investigators began a forensic re-evaluation of the Ole's fire. Orr was the fire captain and arson inv [29] Orr began his state sentence upon his release from federal custody in 2002. Scouts and coaches who knew him in other NFL cities were actively trying to . Federal Judge Oliver Wanger sentenced Orr to 30 years in prison. . He was honorably discharged from the Air Force in April 1971. The fiction book, titled Points of Origin, follows an arsonist by the name of Aaron Stiles, who sets businesses ablaze in California. He staggered to the back wall and duck-walked his way along, feeling the wall and feeling merchandise, feeling anything to guide him. Mr. Orr, now in. Written by former Fire Captain John L. Orr Join the investigation as lead character, Arson Investigator Phil Langtry, searches every clue to uncover a serial arsonist. He was a man who fought fires himself, who arrived on the scene of the crime and deduced the truth a little too quickly: John Orr. It left the remainder of the sentence untouched, all but assuring that Orr will die in prison. Ada Deal put some merchandise into the cart behind her grandson, Matthew. Investigations later showed that the fire started in highly-flammable polyurethane products, which caught fire very quickly, causing the fire to flashover very rapidly. This issue would be later debated in courts of law. Do you, This was definitely in IL because we are friends with, Hi. No . By December, investigators had accumulated enough evidence to warrant and arrest, when Orr was present at a suspicious fire. John Orr showed up very quickly, and he explained to McClure about the volatility of potato chips, that the oils in the chips and the bag material are highly combustible, a sack of solid fuel. [4] The store was completely destroyed by the fire, and four people were killed: a two-year-old child, the child's 50-year-old grandmother, a 26-year-old mother of two, and a 17-year-old employee. Still, nobody was alarmed. Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said today that he believed officers apprehended the sole arsonist. The main character in Points of Origin, Aaron Stiles, was a firefighter for whom the fixation of starting fires was more exciting than sex. When he suddenly realized he was six feet from the emergency exit, he felt an energy rush and he lunged, pushing the bars, activating the alarm. He was stationed in Spain (where he went on to marry his high school girlfriend); in 1970, he was transferred to Montana. Giannini presented evidence from a UCLA forensic psychiatrist who said Orr was driven to torch buildings by a compulsion that he was powerless to control. Moreover, he kept them all together in his car. In the second of our Main Channel Minisodes, Tom and Ben explore the unsettling case of John Leonard Orr.Follow our socials: @couldmurderapodWritten & presen. But suddenly some people ran through the fire door and yelled, Get outta here! And someone else who was in that store may have heard him too. His actions continued to be watched. Albert Breer. By the time fire crews arrived at the scene the building was almost completely destroyed and four people had died in the blaze. Orr was a fire captain and arson investigator for the Glendale Fire Department in Southern California. A fire in a Pasadena, California, hardware store killed four people, including a 2-year-old child. noble soccer tournament 2021 how to get gems in phase 10: world tour army covid pt test policy why did john leonard orr start fires. The fingerprints of those on the list was compared with the fingerprint recovered by Casey from the piece of notebook paper found at one of the arson crime scenes, and all ten suspects were cleared of suspicion. why did john leonard orr start firesjack paar cause of death. Orr was found to possess all of the component parts of the incendiary devices allegedly used to set the arson fires that he stood accused of setting. Orr and his first wife divorced not long after. The most informative, researched, and entertaining true crime stories on the internet. John! Each year the Devil Winds, as the Sanat Anas are called, can turn the entire region into a tinderbox. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Leonard_Orr SEARCH SHARE EPISODES EDIT