51
The “Pillow Pyro” started a fire that
swiftly became a firestorm in Glendale,
California, in June 1990. A total of 67
properties were damaged or destroyed
in the blaze, including this house.one fire in Tulare followed by
another two in Fresno. With the
exception of the Bakersfield craft
store, Casey determined that every
fire had begun in a pile of pillows.An audacious theory
This modus operandi (MO) did not
escape Casey, who noted that the
arson attacks had progressed
sequentially from Los Angeles
north along Highway 99 to Fresno.
Nor did the troubling realization
that the fires had occurred
immediately before and after an
annual arson investigator’s
conference in Fresno.
Casey began to develop a
controversial theory: the fires were
set by one of the 300 arsoninvestigators who had attended the
Fresno symposium. He obtained
a list of the attendees, reducing the
list of suspects to the 55 who had
travelled alone through Bakersfield
on Highway 99.
Unsurprisingly, when Casey
shared his suspicions with his
fellow arson investigators he was
either ignored or ostracized. Yet
he persevered, convincing the
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and
Firearms (ATF) to conduct
scientific testing on the yellow
paper recovered from the craft
store. The ATF lab applied
ninhydrin (a chemical used to
detect ammonia) to the paper on
the off chance that it would react
to amino acids from fingerprintresidue. To the technician’s
and Casey’s surprise, a partial
fingerprint appeared. Using a
special photographic filter to
deepen the contrast and reveal the
ridge detail, the technician was
able to render a usable print. It
was entered into the Automated
Fingerprint Identification System
(AFIS) where it was compared to
the fingerprints of criminals across
the country. When the AFIS failed
to produce a match, Casey asked
the ATF to compare the print ❯❯BANDITS, ROBBERS, AND ARSONISTS
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