In the criminal justice system,
sexually based offenses are considered especially heinous.
In New York City, the dedicated detectives
who investigate these vicious felonies
are members of an elite squad
known as the Special Victims Unit.
These are their stories.
- Just one quick beer. - No, I'm hammered.
I gotta be at work in three hours.
Hey, I didn't make you do body shots
with the jager girl.
What? - Dude, it's her.
No way.
It's the hot chick from the bar.
- Oh, dude, you... - "I'm bored. Wanna hang."
Ask her to send you a naked picture.
- If you wanna... - Fire! Somebody help, please!
My girls! My girls are in there!
Call 911! - Frank!
I already called as soon as I smelled smoke!
Hey, hey, you can't go back up there.
- I gotta get my girls... - Aah!
Get outta here.
You okay?
There are two little girls inside
in the back bedroom, up the stairs and to the right.
- We'll find 'em. - Kedzie!
- Now, get back. - Faye!
Hey, guys, get outta the way. Rig the ladder.
Kedzie!
Two girls burned to death, eight and ten.
Dad's being treated for burns and smoke inhalation.
And the mom?
Neighbor says she's out of the picture.
Single dad. Three kids.
Three. There's a survivor?
Emily Sullivan. 18.
She was out babysitting. She came home to this.
Well, even if you think it was arson, why call SVU?
She told me to. She says she's your new A.D.A.
Use your cell phone, shoot some video
of all the looky-loos standing around here...
Oh, man.
- Do you know her? - She used to be a cop.
And my old partner.
Sub by Adriano_CSI Sync and corrected by georgel24
what are you talking about?
I've been telling you Jo Marlowe stories for years.
Except the one where Jo is actually a woman.
Did he tell you I was his training officer?
Taught him everything he knows. - Right.
Elliot friggin' Stabler. What's it been, ten years?
Closer to 15.
This is my partner, Olivia Benson.
Lucky girl, working with El.
Well, that's what he keeps telling me.
Yeah.
So what'd you call us down for?
Well, when you got two dead little girls,
The Ledger's gonna run it on the front page.
So you want answers before they hit you with the questions.
Yeah, the only time I like to be surprised
with my pants down is on my birthday.
Well, pants down is an SVU case,
but, uh, house fire...
I mean, if it's arson, that's homicide.
Not in the eyes of the D.A. When he sees dead little kids...
He thinks special victims.
So Jack McCoy assigned you to the case.
No. I've been transferred to SVU.
Elliot never got over it when I left him for law school.
Looks like he's been in good hands.
I'll catch up with you later.
A.D.A. Marlowe?
Deputy fire marshal Kurek. What do you got?
Well, I'm just getting started,
but I did find signs of an accelerant
in the girls' bedroom.
I'm ruling this one arson.
Let's take a look.
Dad's down at mercy. Why don't you go talk to him?
I woke up to Kedzie and Faye yelling for me.
At first, I thought I was dreaming,
and then I smelled smoke.
So I-I ran to their room.
It was...
The door was so hot, I- I burned my hands and...
I tried to save them.
I should have been there...
Taking care of my sisters instead of Joey Bremmer...
It was an accident.
Well, actually, Mr. Sullivan,
we believe it was arson.
W-who'd do something so terrible?
It's usually someone you know.
Do you have any enemies?
I got no problems with nobody, uh...
Hey, look, i'm just a working guy.
Sandhog. Local 242.
What about family members?
You're divorced? - Thank God.
Marcy was a psycho!
Emily...
If you don't want to admit it, fine.
But they need to know.
Maybe she set the fire. - Em.
Could you get me some orange juice, please?
See, Emily's mom, my first wife,
she died when she was ten.
And obviously Emily has a problem with her stepmom.
Marcy's a dreamer. She doesn't mean any harm.
She wants to be a singer.
I said, "why don't you join the church choir?"
but she wanted a record deal.
She said that couldn't happen if she was driving carpools
and helping out with homework.
So she left you.
And the girls.
Always thought she'd come back.
If not for me...
For Kedzie and Faye.
Judge gave full custody of the girls to Frank.
It's usually the other way around.
What'd Marcy do wrong?
Failed a court-ordered psych exam.
It's quite a read.
She's an extreme narcissist. Shows poor judgment.
Yeah, like drugging her kids instead of hiring a sitter.
Page 12. Took them to a club
for open-mic night,
gave them warm milk spiked with whiskey and ambien.
Manager found them unconscious and covered in puke.
He call acs?
He didn't want to risk losing his liquor license,
but the girls told Frank, and he told the shrink.
And Marcy lost custody.
Flipped out when the judge ruled against her.
Screamed at Frank.
Said if she couldn't have the kids, nobody would.
I can't believe they're gone!
Kedzie and Faye were my little angels.
When is the last time you saw them?
Oh... Last week or...
Or maybe last month.
Or maybe family court?
I only took the girls to the club
to show them what mommy does for a living.
Because they already know what an alcoholic does at home.
I'm a performer. I sing.
I'm gonna make it big soon.
"Make a million dollars. Buy a yacht."
Doesn't look like any of your fantasies have come true yet.
I-I don't see "take care of my kids" up there on the board.
So I'm not a perfect mother.
It doesn't mean I didn't love Kedzie and Faye.
Yeah, but if you couldn't have them, neither could Frank?
I didn't mean that.
I had a couple belts before the hearing to calm my nerves.
You have a couple of belts last night?
Black out? Forget what you did?
i...
I had... An audition at a club last night.
I... I went home with one of the owners.
Do you know of anybody that would wanna hurt your kids?
Uh... Nah.
He... He wouldn't.
Who's "he"?
Uh, some kid grabbed Kedzie's vajayjay a while back.
I- I thought it was just puppy love.
Does he go to Kedzie's school?
No, he's 20, 21.
He's...
Kedzie was ten years old.
That's not puppy love.
That's pedophilia.
What'd you do?
I yelled at him.
I mean, I was going to
when I had the time to get uptown.
- When you had the time. - I...
I told her, "talk to Emily."
I didn't know he touched her.
- Do you know the guy's name? - Pizza Face?
He has really bad acne.
Where did this happen?
A bodega on 34th where he hangs out.
Kedzie had to walk by on her way home from school.
I told her to take a different way.
Did you tell your dad?
I thought she was just being a drama queen, like usual.
She was always exaggerating to get attention.
That's why I didn't believe her,
especially the part about the cat.
What cat?
Uh, the one in the bodega.
Kedzie used to pet it.
And then last week she...
Said she found it in the alley burned to death.
What?
She told me Pizza Face was there, laughing.
And he said, "that's what happens to bad pussies."
Hey, good lookin'.
- I know you? - No. But I know you.
Pizza Face, right?
Look, call me that again, we're gonna have some problems.
Yeah, well, the only problem I got
is you harassing little girls.
If there's grass on the field, play ball.
- Not if she's ten years old. - What are you, a cop?
Call me "detective."
Where you going?
You're running like your pants are on fire.
Well, what do you know?
They almost were.
Pizza Face's real name
is Michael Parisi.
23. Three prior arrests for sex abuse in the Bronx.
All of the victims underage girls.
And none of the cases went to trial
because all the victims were too scared to testify.
He set the fire to frighten Kedzie Sullivan
into silence.
The blaze got away from him.
He ends up committing two arson homicides.
But why set a fire?
Why not threaten to kill her pet or her parents
like every other garden-variety child molester?
Because mikey is a firebug.
We found a big-ass lighter and accelerant in his pocket.
- Maybe he smokes. - No cigarettes.
So you've got a perv who likes to play with fire
and little girls.
Sounds like you're double-dipping
into the motive pool.
Told you she'd say that.
Good idea, though,
shooting video at the crime scene.
Arsonists love to watch their handiwork.
Problem is...
Mikey's not watching. He's got his eyes closed.
He's having a private moment.
- He's getting off. - I light a couple of candles
if I want to get in the mood... I don't torch my house.
But a pyrophiliac would.
Bet my paycheck on it.
You can't afford to lose.
Then I won't.
How you gonna prove it?
Mikey, you ready to talk?
Can't hear you.
- I didn't do nothing. - Louder!
I said I didn't do nothing!
You got a hearing problem? - Well, it comes with age.
Along with hair loss and back spasms.
Upside is most people outgrow acne.
Go ahead, make fun of me.
- No, no, no, not at all. - Tell a story, build empathy.
I just meant that when I was in tenth grade,
they used to call me pus pocket.
Never could get a date.
I had to take my sister to the winter formal.
At least you had a sister.
No chick's gonna go out with me.
- Girls can be cruel. - Use your family.
I got three daughters.
I haven't heard a nice word out of them in years.
And I'm the guy who pays their allowance.
That's cold.
Look, when they were younger,
they used to be all smiles and sweetness.
Go for the close.
They hadn't learned to be mean yet.
Mikey, you're not a freak.
You just want someone to be nice to you.
Pretty girl like Kedzie.
I only talked to her.
- Yeah. With your fingers. - I didn't.
Mikey... You did.
And you were afraid she was gonna tell someone,
so you went to her house.
You set a fire to send her a message.
You're crazy.
You got a thing for fire, don't you?
The way it looks...
The way the flames...
Dance in front of your eyes.
I mean, it's exciting, hmm?
Beautiful.
The heat, the power.
That's your girl.
She comes when you call her. You can't do without her.
But she's just not quite enough, is she?
You touch that girl, mikey?
No, I swear.
Don't lie to me.
You touch that girl?
Okay.
Okay, I might have copped a feel, but that's all...
Keep talking. Tell me how you torched the house.
I didn't.
You get off on this, don't you?
It makes you feel like a man. It turns you on, huh?
You touch that girl?
Tell me.
All right.
All right, I did it.
I set that fire.
There goes your paycheck.
That's not all it's gonna cost me.
What are you talking about?
Oh, I can hear the defense now.
"your honor, detective Stabler sexually aroused my client
"to elicit a confession.
He was raped at SVU."
His confession will be thrown out.
We have Pizza Face on the video.
Along with half the neighborhood?
Look, he molested Kedzie.
Yes. And those charges died with her.
I need to reinterview dad,
see if he'll put the bastard there.
Frank said that he didn't see anybody
hanging around last night.
You think I don't trust your interview skills.
I think that you have a much more
hands-on approach than most D.A.s.
Cut the euphemisms, Olivia.
Just because you were a cop
doesn't mean that you're on our side.
I wasn't just a cop. I was Elliot's partner.
I wouldn't betray him any more than you would.
You transferred back here to work with him again.
Jack McCoy needed to replace Cabot.
So I was drafted.
It's a happy accident.
Speaking of Elliot...
You and he ever...
No. He's married.
Yeah.
Where are you going?
To rescue our case against Pizza Face.
You comin'?
Had to wait for my report to finish printing.
You ready to go collar up? Got my cuffs, my vest.
We already got the guy. Pizza Face confessed.
Who's that? I'm talking about Frank Sullivan.
You think Frank set the fire?
Think? I know it.
Beyond a shadow of a doubt.
Run it down for me.
The burn trail led directly out of the girls' bedroom.
There was pour pattern around their beds
then back down through the hallway to the front door
and onto the doorstep.
Meaning the arsonist poured accelerant
while walking backwards from the children's bedroom
and out the front door.
He stood there, lit a match,
and fried his babies.
Only way this happened. - Hold on.
It could have been anyone.
Yeah, but Frank's story is total bullshit.
The burn patterns on the floor
prove that the hallway was engulfed in flames.
If he ran through the fire like he claims,
his feet would have been burned to cinders.
Looks like he's walkin' fine to me.
Is there any way you could be wrong?
I been deputy chief fire marshal for 19 years,
investigated over 300 felony arson scenes.
Every one of my arrests
has resulted in a top-count conviction.
All right.
Let's cut Pizza Face loose.
Arrest him.
Came back to get my car. Is there news?
You murdered those two precious angels...
Calm down, calm down!
It's okay. This is a big mistake.
No. Let go of me.
Put your hands behind your back.
You're wrong about this.
Frank Sullivan, you're under arrest
for the murders of Kedzie Sullivan
and Faye Sullivan.
Hey, hey! That's enough!
You okay?
Your cuffs on our killer?
I'm fine. - Let's go.
Frank Sullivan killed his kids.
I wanna know why. What do you got?
Well, for starters, Frank has been lying to you.
Said he's a sandhog.
Hasn't worked since last summer.
And take a look at his financials.
They're a complete mess.
He cashed out his 401k to live on.
He's underwater on the house.
And looky here... It was insured for the full value.
$1.1 million.
Frank have any record of fraud?
Criminal record is clear.
Never filed an insurance claim in his life.
But Emily Sullivan has.
As soon as she turned 18, she took out a car loan.
Six months later, the car was reported stolen
and torched under the BQE.
Total loss.
And the insurance company paid off just in time.
Dress rehearsal for the big show.
And a prior bad act.
This is just what I need to convince the jury.
If the melted Mazda was Daddy's idea.
heh.
How's my father?
He's fine.
You're making a mistake.
Where is he? I want to see him.
You can't, Emily. He's under arrest.
Then he needs a lawyer.
My father did not burn down our house.
Well, if you really want to help him,
I suggest you talk to me.
You know him best.
So why don't you help me get to know him better?
Have a seat.
He's a great dad.
He never let my little sisters see him worry.
Worried about what?
Money mostly.
Uh, collection agencies were calling all the time.
They got pretty nasty.
You must have been really worried.
Dad told me everything would be okay.
But I-i'm supposed to start college in the fall.
I- I don't know how we're gonna afford the tuition.
Like you couldn't afford your car payment.
Until your Mazda conveniently showed up stolen
and was torched.
- Am I in trouble? - Well, that depends.
Emily, whose idea was that?
It was dad's.
He didn't want a repo on my credit report,
just in case it screwed up my financial aid.
So he did it to protect you.
Well, it's not like we were stealing.
We didn't get any money.
Insurance just paid off the loan.
And now the bank was gonna take your house.
Your dad was in trouble,
and he didn't know what else to do.
Emily, if it worked before...
Why not do it again?
Oh, God.
He really set that fire.
Hey, hey, look, this is all a mistake.
- Sit down. - No, I didn't do it!
I said sit down! Now...
You're gonna tell me
why you burned up those two innocent children.
No. I-I loved them with all my heart.
You couldn't pay the bills. You were gonna lose that house.
You were gonna wind up on the street
or some cruddy homeless shelter.
No. No, I would have figured something out.
Yeah, I think you did.
Right?
You torch the house.
Walk away with the insurance money.
You keep the family together.
No, I'd never do that. That's crazy!
Emily's car.
Worked with Emily's car.
Now, Frank, I get it.
You did that to protect her.
This time you were protecting all your girls.
- No! - It was a good plan.
It just went bad.
You were gonna get those girls out in time,
but the fire got the best of you.
I tried to save them. I tried to save them.
What did they say to you?
What'd they call out?
"help me, Daddy, help me"? - God.
And you tried to get through that door,
but the flames pushed you back. Stop, will you, will you...
Frank, you did the best you could.
Stop!
Tell me it was an accident.
Tell me that you didn't mean for it to happen.
You never thought your two beautiful girls
would burn to death in that fire.
Just tell me that, Frank.
It's gonna be okay.
I understand.
Just tell me.
There's nothing to tell...
So help me God.
I did not kill my babies.
I want a lawyer.
I don't want to breathe the air in here anymore.
He really got to you.
You bought that act?
I know tears when I see 'em, El.
The tears were real. It's a...
Raw onion.
Munch likes 'em on his liverwurst.
You got me.
I didn't get him.
We have enough to charge him, though, right?
Oh, yeah. Now it's my turn to put on a show.
No tears.
Docket ending 1241,
people v. Frank Sullivan.
One count of arson in the first degree.
Two counts of murder in the second.
Appearances, counselors?
Jo Marlowe for the people, your honor.
Mitchell Shankman,
Legal Aid Society for Mr. Sullivan.
How does your client plead?
- Not guilty. - Liar!
- Young lady... - Liar!
Please escort this woman out.
Emily, please, listen to Daddy.
I hate you! I hope you rot in prison!
Em. I didn't do it.
I'll hear the people on bail.
- Remand. - That's punitive.
My client has to plan the funeral of his daughters.
His victims.
What happened to innocent until proven guilty?
I have the proof right here. It's a conclusive determination
made by FDNY's most seasoned arson investigator
that the defendant set the fire that killed his daughters.
They were innocent. He's guilty.
This is starting to sound suspiciously like a trial.
I remind you we're in arraignment court.
The defendant is remanded. Anything else?
Five-minute recess.
- Gimme the blowback. - Excuse me?
Shankman, do I have to school you?
Your client killed those two girls.
He's guilty. You know it, I know it.
This is the time where you're supposed to come up with
some harebrained theory of justification.
Try "he was sleepwalking"
or "he was delusional because he was up all night
worrying so much about paying his bills"...
Actually, I was gonna ask for a deal.
I told him, Frank pleads to the indictment.
In return, I don't ask for consecutive sentencing
on the two deaths.
He does 25 to life. And what'd Shankman say?
That he'd tell his client to take it.
I almost hope he doesn't. Oh, Jo Jo.
When you taste blood,
you gotta be in there for the kill, don't you?
Yeah. Well, you still get me.
That last moo shu pancake is mine.
A.D.A. Marlowe.
Give me half an hour.
That was fast. - Sullivan?
Yeah. Called himself.
Wants to talk.
Where's Shankman?
I wanted to talk to you alone.
Well, a guy named miranda ruined that for both of us.
Your lawyer needs to be present.
I fired him.
why?
'Cause he thinks i'm guilty.
Honey, all of legal aid's clients are guilty.
Doesn't mean they're not gonna provide
a kick-ass defense for you.
Please, just listen to me.
Please? - No.
You listen to me.
Anything you say, I can and will use
to crucify you on the stand.
I know. I know. I know.
But I need you to understa... I'm not some priest
that dropped by to hear your confession
and forgive you.
It's my Job to put you away. - No.
It's your Job to get justice for my daughters, isn't it?
Yeah.
Yeah, well, that's what I want too.
So just...
Hear me out.
I fired my lawyer...
So you'd take me seriously.
What else can I do?
Give us a minute.
All right.
You know, I'll take a, uh...
I'll even take a polygraph.
I'll... I'll take any test you want.
I'll tell you every bad thing I've ever done.
- That's not necessary. - I cheat on my taxes.
I cheated on my wife with a $10 hooker
behind the bus station.
Uh, what else? I, uh...
I got a stash of porn in my closet.
I've had numerous affairs... That's enough.
No. It's not enough.
Not until you see that I've done a million crappy things,
and I don't deserve the family I had,
but I will swear on their graves
that I did not kill my girls.
Well, that's a nice speech.
Now, what am I supposed to do?
Just let you waltz outta here
while I spend the rest of my days
chasing after some mythical killer?
My daughters are dead.
They're dead, 'cause I couldn't save them.
I can't live with that guilt.
Well...
You should have just asked me to bring a razor blade.
Is that all this is to you, just a...
Just a freaking Joke?
1013! 1013!
What do I have to do to convince you?
- 1013! - Is that good enough?
Do you believe me now? - Frank...
Don't make another mistake.
Do you believe me?
Guard!
Frank.
Do you believe me now? Are you satisfied?
- how's Frank? - He'll be okay.
He's on suicide watch at the prison hospital.
Too bad he's not in the morgue.
Stunt he pulled.
It worked.
- Jo, don't tell me. - I was a cop for ten years.
I know when somebody's lying.
I'm telling you that Frank Sullivan
did not set that fire.
Well, then your bullshit detector is on the fritz.
- I believe him. - Jo, he's a con artist.
Look, we all bought the grieving father routine.
Now you're falling for the fake suicide?
Fool me once, shame on you.
And fool me twice, and I'm an idiot,
and I am telling you that Frank Sullivan
did not set that fire. - Okay.
Okay. So who did?
I don't know, and neither does he.
But we need to look at this case with a new set of eyes.
What... We've been over every detail.
Nobody broke into that house and doused it with accelerant.
There is one witness we haven't questioned.
who?
The house.
Everybody says when it comes to fire
you're the best independent investigator in the business.
They would be right.
You know, I spent 20 years helping corporations
defend against lawsuits
where anything from cars to nuclear reactors blew up.
And then one day I woke up, had a change of heart,
and...
Well, sounds like you're my dream man.
I got a guy looking at life. Arson, double homicide.
I think he's innocent.
I thought you said you were a prosecutor.
I am.
Wow. I guess we both had a change of heart.
The reason I need an expert
is the fire marshal refuses to take a second look.
To him it's an open and shut case... Dad did it.
Fire marshals. Don't get me started.
Did you know it only takes one 40-hour class
to become a fire marshal?
I spent seven years getting my PhD.
I did my dissertation on the physics of combustion.
Good thing I didn't get you started.
Damn it. There was a case just like this in Texas.
Got an innocent man executed for an arson/homicide.
It was really an accident.
Kurek's whole case is half-assed.
- Give me an example. - Okay.
He cites the presence of crazed glass
as proof that an accelerant was used.
Says only an accelerant-started fire
can cause glass to heat enough
to cause spider cracks.
Not science.
It's an old wives' tale.
How does glass like that break?
Rapid cooling.
When fire hoses spray cold water
on superheated glass.
wow.
So is his entire investigation flawed?
I didn't say that.
I would need to see samples from the fire scene.
I would need to see statements from the eyewitnesses
and the defendant
on the exact nature of the fire's behavior.
I'll do you one better.
Walk us through exactly what happened the night of the fire.
If I woke up one second sooner,
my girls would still be alive.
Frank, I need you to help us out here.
Come on. - I-I was sleeping.
And then I heard my girls yelling out, "Daddy! Daddy!"
so I shot up, and then, well, I ran down the hall.
Was any smoke in the hallway?
It was just pouring out from under the doorway.
I gave this to Faye on her second birthday.
Should have heard her laugh.
No matter how bad your day was going,
she'd laugh and make everything all right.
Okay. Check this out.
You see these spots?
Fire marshal claims that these are pour patterns
caused by an accelerant.
Are you saying that that's not true?
Let's show them, Frank.
Now, if the fire started in this room,
then it would have grown into a monster
fighting to get out to find more oxygen.
Tell me what happened.
Well, I-I ran to the bedroom door,
and I grabbed the doorknob, but it almost melted my hand.
So then I just... I rammed the door,
but it still wouldn't budge.
Heat expanded the wood.
You'd have needed an ax to break it down.
Had you opened it,
you would have been swallowed up by flame.
Then what happened?
So I ran to... To the front door
to get some help,
and... And then I opened the door.
Uh-huh. Okay.
The fire in the back,
starving for oxygen,
sucks in air from the outside.
When it hits the fire,
it breaks through the bedroom door,
racing down the hallway, jumping down the stairs
and out the front door leaving...
These pour paths in its wake.
This theory is plausible.
So is Kurek's.
- So you can't prove it. - No.
I'm sorry.
Dang it. I thought Drexel
was gonna blow the fire marshal out of the water.
You're so sure Frank didn't do it, huh?
Oh, Kurek screwed up. We screwed up.
It's up to us to clean this up.
What happened to my partner who used to back my play?
We haven't been partners for a long time, Jo.
Yeah. I've been replaced.
Looks like the party's over.
Well, actually, it's just getting started.
McCoy's at the squad room waiting for you.
Sent me to bring you in.
- You can hang up, Jack. - So your phone isn't broken.
- I was busy. - I heard.
When I call, you answer.
When you tell you to do something, you do it.
Even if it means sending an innocent man to jail
for the rest of his life.
Innocent? He lied to you about being out of work.
He forgot to mention that he torched a car.
He even attempted suicide,
with you there to call for help.
Come on, Jo. He's snowing you.
Jack, when I first came to the D.A.'s office,
you told me to stop thinking like a cop
because probable cause wasn't good enough in court.
I needed proof beyond a reasonable doubt.
Aren't my doubts reasonable?
The fire marshal doesn't think so.
But Drexel's theory is equally viable.
So let the jury decide. That's what they're for.
Go to trial, Jo.
I remember what you told me about trial, Jack,
that a good prosecutor got convictions...
and great ones get justice.
I give that speech to all new A.D.A.s.
Well. I believed you.
Now I'm asking you to believe me.
Do you believe her, detective?
I think if Jo's gut is telling her
Frank's not our guy, it's worth listening to.
Detective Benson,
do you now think Frank Sullivan is innocent?
I don't know.
There is not one single shred of evidence
that anyone else set this fire.
Take him to trial.
We're all in this together, Jo.
Got a confession from Pizza Face.
Maybe he's our guy.
Or maybe Frank killed his kids,
and we'll never know it unless we find a smoking gun.
- What about a smoking house? - We can't burn a house down.
I can.
It's a crazy idea. You know that, don't you?
But it could work.
And you've got the ability to record all this data.
Sensors on the walls,
and...
The floor to record burn temperatures
throughout the whole fire.
Every single angle of the house
is covered with these special heat-resistant cameras.
All right then.
Let's light this baby up.
The fire was set in a condemned house
structurally identical to the Sullivans' home,
recreated with the exact same furnishings.
Right. Everything's the same,
so the fire burns just like it did the first time.
You could have saved a lot of time and money
by just reading my report.
And how long did it take for the fire to consume
the entire house?
A little over two minutes.
So in two minutes' time,
Faye and Kedzie Sullivan went from being sound asleep
to trapped inside an inescapable inferno?
It's call an accelerant for a reason,
and somebody did manage to escape.
And he's sitting right over there.
And this fire will tell us if he's guilty.
That's right.
And what are we looking at here on the floor
and on the walls?
The same puddle patterns, burn patterns,
and spidered glass that I described in my report
on the Sullivan house fire.
On the right,
are these the burn patterns in the Sullivan home?
Yep. Like I said, they're identical.
And only an accelerant can cause those burn patterns.
Correct.
And you are absolutely sure of that.
As sure as I'm sitting here right now.
Yet no accelerant was used to start that fire.
What the hell are you talking about?
Watch. Maybe you'll learn something.
This fire will be started
by shorting out
these two wires on this space heater
beside the bed.
No accelerant is being used
anywhere in the house.
That's impossible.
Impossible that it happened?
Or impossible that you were wrong?
I know what I saw.
And we know what we just saw...
The exact same fire caused by an electrical short circuit,
not by arson.
And this...
Is an animation of the recreation of the fire
with Frank Sullivan's actions exactly as he described them
to Dr. Drexel.
An electrical short circuit starts the fire.
The girls cry out, waking Frank,
who runs to their room.
Unable to break down the door, he runs down the stairs,
out of the house, opening the front door,
and the sudden rush of fresh air
causes the flashover.
You testified that those spots
were caused by an accelerant.
These exact same spots in the recreation
were caused by a fire that started in those girls' bedroom,
not arson.
That is the danger of junk science.
Your honor,
based on this newly discovered evidence,
the people move to dismiss this case
in the interest of justice.
I, uh...
I don't know what to say, i...
you don't have to say anything.
I am so sorry, Daddy.
She wanted to see you, Frank.
I can't believe I thought you did it.
It's okay, sweetheart.
That's all right.
Now I have to go give McCoy the bill
for the house I burned down.
- Want some backup? - Sure.