why did john leonard orr start fires

The dismissal of Chiefs general manager John Dorsey was met, almost universally, with shock. ", Garrett speculated that this may be a contributing factor to the most recent string of arsons: "It would appear that primary motive may not be killing people, the primary motive may be attention because he is setting fires to vehicles that are not apparently occupied. Additionally, two fabric stores belonging to the same chain were set on fire, which was the case in real life as well. In fact, Jim Obdam found two people browsing in hardware, looking at tools. Orr was a fire captain and arson investigator for the Glendale Fire Department in Southern California. Prior to the Oles fire and the fire at Vons Market, there had been a fire in nearby Pasadena, at Albertsons Market on East Sierra Madre Boulevard, about seven miles from Oles. Considered an expert by his peers with an uncanny ability to determine the cause of deliberate cases of arson, he was right more often than not about the circumstances of where the fire began and how it spread so quickly. Theres a fire!. There was also a detail that put Orr right at the scene before the actual store fire. This material caused the fire to spread very quickly. He was also found guilty of committing upwards of 20 other crimes, including setting a blazing fire in the College Hills section of Glendale, which destroy 67 residential homes. folder_opendo soulmates separate and reunite After Orr was found to be present at another suspicious fire, a federal grand jury handed down an indictment. 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. He was one of three boys. On several occasions, film and television have also presented the story of Orr's arson activities and eventual arrest and criminal conviction. This scintillating story was confiscated from the author s home at the time of his arrest. These devices were usually deposited in densely populated linen stores and left to slowly burn. It was bright orange and raging. This gripping account guides readers through the arsonists life and crimes, detailing the millions of dollars in damage and tragic deaths caused by his attacks, and revealing the major mistake that led to his downfall. Magazine covers for the Daring Detective publication for the year 1940. He had titled it Points of Origin: Playing with Fire, which was the story of an arsonist named Aaron Stiles who also worked as an arson investigator. Orr's story was earlier chronicled by bestselling true crime author Joseph Wambaugh in his book Fire Lover. During his arson spree, John Orr was given the nickname the Pillow Pyro by arson investigators. Growing up, he always wanted to join the police department, but failed the entrance exam and instead became a career fire officer and arson investigator. All except John Orr. why did john leonard orr start fires. There he handed out a flier which described the modus operandi of the suspected Pillow Pyro serial arsonist who was responsible for the Los Angeles fires. While John Orr was in custody, investigators determined that the number of brush fires set in nearby foothill areas decreased by almost 90%. Just stupid people acting as stupid people do. Orrs defence attorneys Peter Giannini and Edward Rucker argued that the South Pasadena fire was ruled an electrical blaze and dismissed Orrs manuscript as pure fiction, comparing it with the 1991 movie Backdraft, which had also been written by a firefighter. Episode 74 -- "Firestarter" (PODCAST EXCLUSIVE EPISODE) MrBallen Podcast: Strange, Dark & Mysterious Stories. Any donations are appreciated and will contribute towards maintaining the website and ensure we can add new content on a regular basis. A fictional Pasadena hardware store goes up in flames. He became fascinated by fires and firefighters as a child after witnessing a house set ablaze in his neighborhood. Nobody had seen any fire, just that column of dark smoke. More fires followed at an alarming rate, that were soon suspected to be the work of the same individual, primarily because of the numerous similarities. One of the devices found was partially wrapped in yellow paper, and Captain Marvin Casey, of the Bakersfield Fire Department, held suspicions that it was the work of one of the experts attending the convention. ", "They feel outside of the world, they're angry at the world. [15], Orr was then investigated and watched for several months. You just drive around the park, he said, rolling to a stop as he peered out an open window, and listen,' as observed by a journalist from the Los Angeles Times. For now the people of Los Angeles can only wait, hoping that the fires will stop and the man in police custody is the real arsonist. [12] As a result, a large task force, nicknamed the Pillow Pyro Task Force (a reference to the arson fires set in pillows) was formed to apprehend the arsonist. The irony is that the firebug John Orr was someone entrusted to protect the public against fire. 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. In the 1980s and 1990s, Los Angeles was plagued by a series of fires that cost millions of dollars in . The hunt for an arsonist is a personal mission for Godfrey, who worked in California when a fellow firefighter was convicted of setting about 2,000 fires in the Los Angeles area in the 1980s and 1990s. A Lie To Die For Sneak: Retired Fire Investigator Says He Thought Serial Arsonist Might Be A 'Wannabe' Investigator. Orr and his first wife divorced not long after. A federal grand jury handed down an indictment, and he was arrest on December 4, 1991. "That's a very powerful statement." Orr, a former fire captain is believed to be responsible for nearly 2,000 fires in the Los Angeles area between 1984 and 1991. A California appeals court vacated nine years of his state sentence on March 15, 2000, finding that the burning of homes in the College Hills blaze had only been incidental to his objective of starting a brush fire. Copyright 2021 The True Crime Database. ", For the roughly one third of arsonists who return to the scene of the crime, the primary attraction can be a desire for control and power. Fire-starting is a behavior that may or may not be connected to a condition. [18] Orr was never aware of a second tracking device installed in his city vehicle that November. ", According to Garrett, "They tend to be undereducated, many of them have not graduated from high school and have average to below average IQs, but the common theme in all of them is that all of them are troubled they feel isolated. according to Dr. Joel Dvoskin, a member of the American Board of Forensic Psychology. When Orr was serving at Glendale station, "he developed a penchant for teaching arson investigation tactics and skills to his fellow arson investigators around the state," explains Kary Antholis, who hosts the "Firebug" podcast that centers on the arsonist and arson investigator. Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, breaking news, sweepstakes, and more! But this arsonist was methodical in his crime spreehe used makeshift incendiary timing-devices to ignite blazes in open and populated stores, while also setting off smaller fires on grassy hillsides to draw the attention of fire departments away from his true target. This item: Points of Origin: Playing With Fire. Doubtlessly, he would rather have been at some other place than Oles Home Center on that October evening, especially during the World Series, but there were seven children in his family who had to look for empty bottles and cans to exchange for deposits if they wanted to buy sports equipment. Orr, a former fire captain is believed to be responsible for nearly 2,000 fires in the Los Angeles area between 1984 and 1991. During the meeting an unusual number of suspicious fires broke out in and around both Fresno and further south in Bakersfield. Seven years and many fires later, police arrested Orr at his home. July 30, 2018. It has been postulated that people preferred to live in fire-prone places because the burning provided them advantages for hunting, foraging, cultivating, and livestock herding ( Pyne 1995 ). The fiction book, titled Points of Origin, follows an arsonist by the name of Aaron Stiles, who sets businesses ablaze in California. He was a respected authority and often in the press. In 1984, California firefighters had battled ten arson fires in three weeks. 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. [10] By comparing the list of attendees from the Fresno conference with the list of attendees at the Pacific Grove conference, Casey was able to create a short list of ten suspects. [6] This, sadly, does not mean that the deaths of his 4 victims were rapid. He would then be part of the firefighting crew that investigated the fires. Do you mind if I shoot some pictures?. Orr is currently serving his life sentence at California State Prison, Centinela. Arson investigators examined the ruins and determined that the fire was caused by an electrical malfunction. 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. "Frank Girardot uncovers another side to serial arsonist John Orr in 'Burned: Pyromania, Murder, And A Daughter's Nightmare', "Local Reporter's Book Tells a Fiery Tale Pasadena Now", "True-Crime Book Chronicles South Pasadena Arson at Ole's Hardware | South Pasadena Review", "Burned: Pyromania, Murder, and a Daughter's Nightmare", Hunt for the Serial Arsonist: Program Overview, Diary of a Serial Arsonist/Lost Clue episode preview. That particular detail of the story mirrored a real fire from 1984, at Oles Home Centre in South Pasadena, in which four people had died, including 50-year-old Ada Deal and her grandson, 2-year-old Matthew Troidl, which had originally been ruled an accident. In late 1990 and early 1991, another series of arson fires broke out in southern California, this time in and around the Los Angeles metropolitan area. Joseph Wambaugh wrote a book on the case, Fire Lover, and quipped that after reading Orrs novel, the investigators of the Pillow Pyro Task Force concluded that you couldnt find that many erections at the Playboy mansion on New Years Eve. John Leonard Orr's unpublished book, "Points of Origin," detailed an arson spree that eerily mirrored his own and helped authorities close the net on him. 3434 carolina southern belle; why is austria a developed country; why did john leonard orr start fires. In an interview, Orr defended his manuscript, and expressly stated; The character of Aaron Stiles was a composite of arsonists I arrested.. Imprisoned at. [7] This, combined with the recovery of a single unmatched fingerprint left on a piece of notebook paper as part of a time-delay incendiary device,[8] led Captain Marvin G. Casey of the Bakersfield Fire Department (BFD) to suspect that an arson investigator from the Los Angeles area was responsible for these arsons.[9]. In the 1980s and 1990s, Los Angeles was plagued by a series of fires that cost millions of dollars in damages and claimed four lives. As an adult, he joined the Air Force and their fire-fighter school. Consequently, Campuzanno and two of his colleagues met with Casey, obtained a copy of the fingerprint that Casey had recovered, and this time matched it to Orr on April 17, 1991, with the help of improved fingerprint technology. He was convinced that the cause was arson. Albert Breer. He ran toward the south fire door searching for Ada and Matthew, and when he got there the cloud behind him had turned into a wall, a wall of very black smoke. Crime News is your destination for true crime stories from around the world, breaking crime news, and information about Oxygen's original true crime shows and documentaries. As part of Hamilton College's prison writing initiative, The American Prison Writing Archive,[37] Orr was able to publish several autobiographical accounts of his experiences as a prisoner in the American prison complex. For example, one of Orrs fires took place at a Kmart shopping center, and so did one in the book, the LA Times reported. In January 1987, a convention for arson investigators from all over California was held in the city of Fresno. He had good looks, and had recently entered a Bullocks department store modeling competition and won it. The modus operandi of John Orr was to set fires using an incendiary timing-device, usually a cigarette with a rubber band wrapped around the end wedged into a matchbook, in stores while they . This post is sponsored by Open Road Media. This issue would be later debated in courts of law. [12] Defending his manuscript, Orr expressly stated: "The character of Aaron Stiles was a composite of arsonists I arrested. Fingerprints recovered from one of the crime scenes was compared to several arson investigators in 1989, without success. It wasnt his fault. Investigators found the charred remnants of what appeared to be a simple incendiary device of a filter-tipped cigarette and matches, all held together with a rubber band, the tell-tale sign of an arsonist they dubbed the Pillow Pyro, because of his fondness for setting fires in fabric shops. She answered, Ill check my area! And then she rushed through the hardware department looking for stragglers. Only 1 left in stock - order soon. This was the case with one of the most famous serial arsonists in Los Angeles history, John Leonard Orr. Yes! And Jim Obdam suddenly felt alone and trapped. In fact, this varsity center fielder was being scouted by the Chicago Cubs to play double A ball. manchester united annual turnover; what dallas city council district am i in why did john leonard orr start fires. Infamous Serial Killers. Orr was a fire captain and arson investigator for the Glendale Fire Department in Southern California.He was convicted of serial arson and four counts of murder. port st lucie to orlando airport shuttle; pytest run test multiple times with different parameters; standing broad jump world record; main topic and key details first grade Glendale Fire Chief Johan Leonard Orr. In an article in the local paper dated 5 July 1990, he told how he had sacrificed his Independence Day holiday for the 11th year in row, so he could patrol the streets, looking for what he described as firecracker scofflaws, who flouted the law. One of fires in Orrs book had taken place at a K-Mart shopping centre, the same place where the Pillow Pyro had burnt down. He was charged with four counts of first-degree murder and three counts of arson, though Orr maintained his innocence. He was charged with four counts of first-degree murder and three counts of arson, though Orr maintained his innocence. [26], A jury in a California state court convicted Orr on all four murder charges and all but one of the arson counts on June 25, 1998. He also maintains his innocence and continues efforts to appeal his case. In the Edgar Award-winning true crime book Fire Lover, celebrated true crime author Joseph Wambaugh draws on case records, court transcripts, interviews, and his own in-depth research to reconstruct Orrs shocking spree. Jim Obdam hurried toward the west end of the store, looking for customers. They're just angry in general and so they take off and light fires.". His parents divorced when he was young. Orr was a fire captain and arson investigator for the Glendale Fire Department in Southern California. John Orr as one of the investigators insisted that the cause of the fire was arson. Each year the Devil Winds, as the Sanat Anas are called, can turn the entire region into a tinderbox. Pyromania About John Orr Childhood A disorder in which one sets fire to an object on more than one occasion Done purposely or deliberately One is has a interest in, attraction to, or curiosity in fire and how it works One gains pleasure, gratification, or relief when sets fire Born April 29, 1949 Previously a fire captain and arson investigator He told them to leave the store at once. From the mid-1980s to 1991, a wave of arsons swept through Central and Southern California. Points of Truth: Revelations of "the most prolific serial arsonist of the 20th century". The book chronicles acts of arson and bears several striking similarities with the real-life 1984 fire. Stiles go-to fictional incendiary device was made of a cigarette and matches held together with rubber bands so were the devices found at the real California fires, AP News reported. However, on April 17, 1991, Orr was arrested for starting fires in the areasof Fresno and Los Angeles when hisfingerprintswere found at the scene of a fire. [29] Orr began his state sentence upon his release from federal custody in 2002. Orr was found to be the cause of those fires. He couldnt see, and hoped he could feel the steps, but his thoughts were fragmenting, and he began praying. A 2021 episode of HLNs Very Scary People featured him, titled "Firestarter: A Wall of Flames". Turn on desktop notifications for breaking stories about interest? But suddenly some people ran through the fire door and yelled, Get outta here! ABC News consultant and former FBI Agent Brad Garrett described the typical arsonist as a "white male from mid-teens to 25 to 30 years old. Orr had originally wanted to be a police officer, but had failed the entrance exam; instead he became a fire investigator and career fire officer. The most alarming connection between the manuscript and the real fires was Oles Home Center case. Then he remembered there was a fire exit in the hardware department in the far northwest corner, if he could only find the far northwest corner. And while Eisele awaited the arrival of engine companies, and while Jim Obdam was led to the back of an ambulance, and while Billy Deal stood in front of Oles Home Center, where he would remain for twenty-two hours, and while John Orr shot film of the conflagration, the roof caved in and a geyser of flame and sparks exploded high into the night. But though the hungry flames couldnt reach him, the trailing heat did. John Orr told McClure that in his opinion, the Albertsons fire was deliberately set, as is usually the case with fires in retail stores during business hours when customers are present. The defence read out a position of his manuscript which read, Aaron wanted the Cals fire to be called arson. Orr wrote in his manuscript that the ficitional grandmother was going to take her toddler grandson out for mint chocolate chip ice cream after their trip to the hardware store. Of course, Orr was never quite as clever as he thought. Last edited on 25 February 2023, at 08:00, Learn how and when to remove this template message, "Books of the Times; A Firefighter Unable to Resist the Flame", "Case 98: The Pillow Pyro - Casefile: True Crime Podcast", "Firehouse Magazine Archives September 1998", "Additional material for Court TV's documentary, "The Firestarter - John Orr", "TR-141 Special Report: Firefighter Arson", "Arson Investigator-Novelist Is Charged With Setting Fires". Mr. Orr, now in. The presiding judge sentenced Orr to four concurrent terms of life without parole for murder, plus an additional 21 years in prison for arson. Scouts and coaches who knew him in other NFL cities were actively trying to . Some arson investigators and an FBI criminal profiler have deemed Orr to be possibly one of the worst American serial arsonists of the 20th century. He thought that the store was closing so he looked at his watch. The next day arson investigators across Southern California attended the scene and concluded unanimously that the cause of the fire was attributed to an electrical fault. Investigators at the scene suspected that the deadly inferno was an unfortunate accidentan electrical fire. Found the resolution to each, I know who really killed Chanin, her husband did not, I have so many questions about this story. By December, investigators had accumulated enough evidence to warrant and arrest, when Orr was present at a suspicious fire. He was convicted of serial arson and four counts of murder. From 1984 to 1991, an arsonist known as the Pillow Pyro ignited approximately 2,000 fires across Southern California. The young clerk had been working in the hardware department all day and into the evening. By continuing to browse, you accept the use of cookies and other technologies. You should probably leave the cart here, he said, more forcefully. He was all alone in the smoke and heat. He was also ordered to pay $90,000 in restitution. In response to this, a large task force known as the Pillow Pyro Task Force was formed to identify and apprehend the arsonist. Oles Home Center was set ablaze on the evening of Oct. 19, 1984. Create your free profile and get access to exclusive content. He then approached the Los Angeles Fire Department, only to be rejected once again. From there, Rich went on to be one of the founding members of Lonestar. Orr was born on April 26, 1949, in Los Angeles, California. When they return to watch firemen fight the blaze, an arsonist may be thinking, "I created this scene, I'm actually controlling what they're doing because I started the fire," Garrett said. In the second of our Main Channel Minisodes, Tom and Ben explore the unsettling case of John Leonard Orr.Follow our socials: @couldmurderapodWritten & presen. why did john leonard orr start fires. He loved the inadvertent attention he derived from the newspaper coverage and hated it when he wasnt properly recognized'. In March 1989, another meeting of arson experts in Pacific Grove, California, coincided with an outbreak of fires in the towns between the site of the conference and Glendale. In rare cases, blazes can even be set by firefighters as part of a sort of hero impulse. Posted on . A young man on a forklift jumped off the vehicle and cried, My God, its a fire! And he took off running. The jury disagreed with this defence and found him guilty of murder in connection with the Oles fire. He was convicted of serial arson and four counts of murder. John Orr was found guilty of four counts of first-degree murder on June 26, 1998. It didnt take this long. This turned out to be true in real life, and the only person who knew this information was the childs grandfather, who was at the store at the time and narrowly escaped, Assistant District Attorney Michael Cabral told producers of A Lie To Die For. Cabral said they concluded that Orr must have near the fire in order to know such specific information. Pyromania is very rare and incredibly under-researched, so its actual occurrence is hard to determine. By - June 6, 2022. John Orr was found to be the cause of most of those fires. His story was recounted in 2019 on Investigation Discovery's Deadly Secrets in the episode "The Fire Inside", and Oxygen's A Lie To Die For in the episode "The Heat Of Deceit." Billy wanted to buy some cheap two-by-fours, so he headed for the lumber display, which was between the north and south fire doors. "There are a number of cases each year where firefighters start fires," according to Garrett, especially in scenarios where there are occupants the firefighter is provided with people to rescue. In the 1984 Pasadena fire, in which four lives were lost, two of them eerily matched the victims in Orrs book: Ada Deal, 52, and her grandson, Matthew Troidl, almost 3. He was a man who understood how fires spread and how firefighters responded to and fought blazes. LOS ANGELES (AP) _ In one chapter from a 350-page manuscript, a firefighter-turned-firebug sets businesses across California ablaze. In the 1980s and 1990s, Los Angeles was plagued by a series . . Afterward, investigators took another look at the Oles Home Center hardware store fire, which further investigation had revealed was started by a highly flammable substance. In that band, he played bass and sang high harmonies. Billy looked around. Of the multiple fires that were set, one of them resulted in death. It had been a long shift for Jim Obdam. Also, Rich sometimes sang lead vocals. He took the plea deal when it became apparent that he could not afford to mount a defense and stood little chance at trial. [31] Federal ATF agent Mike Matassa believes that Orr set nearly 2,000 fires between 1984 and 1991. Sign up for The Lineups newsletter, and get our most chilling reads delivered straight to your inbox. He would also set small fires often in the grassy hills, in order to draw firefighters, leaving fires set in more congested areas unattended. In the 1980s and 1990s, Los Angeles was plagued by a series of fires that cost millions of dollars in . In fact, Orr even penned a novel, Points of Origin, which follows an arson investigator who suspects a serial arsonist may be operating within his own ranks. There was nothing. And there was an unintelligible announcement. John Orr, an arson investigator and fire captain in Southern California, was convicted of setting three fires on his way home from a convention of his colleagues in 1987. Pleading for John Orr's life, his lawyers Monday called a psychiatrist who said the former Glendale arson investigator, who faces a possible death sentence for murder, was driven to torch. Federal Judge Oliver Wanger sentenced Orr to 30 years in prison. John Leonard Orr (born April 26, 1949) is an American former firefighter, novelist, and convicted arsonist and mass murderer. He is a TEACHER! Investigators agreed the hardware store fire was an accident, but it was Orr who insisted there was an arsonist afoot. Still, nobody was alarmed. Could it possibly be one of their own ? But the intensity and movement of a wildfire ultimately depends on three factors: fuel, weather and topography. Orrs defence attorneys decried the notion of using a work of fiction for evidence as ludicrous, however, sections of the book were used during his 1992 trial. Orr was the fire captain and arson investigator for the Glendale Fire Department in Southern California. An episode of the PBS science series Nova titled "Hunt for the Serial Arsonist" (airing November 14, 1995) chronicled his story. Orr had an insatiable need for recognition and glory. John Orr, a former Glendale arson investigator, was uncannily close at hand when fires broke out in Southern California in the 1980s. During the LA riots, triggered by the April 29 acquittal of police officers charged with using excessive force in the arrest and beating of Rodney King, John Orr was under electronically monitored home detention, awaiting trial for starting at least a dozen fires throughout California. Posted on . Orr studied fire science at a local college and worked at a 7-Eleven and as store security at Sears part time. And then he headed toward the front of the store, assuming that Ada Deal and her grandson were following behind him. The area was being terrorized at the time by the so-called Pillow Pyro, an arsonist who sometimes targeted linen shops. Want more true crime? why did john leonard orr start fires. Following high school, Orr joined the US Air Force; in 1967, he shipped out for basic training, later transferring to Air Force firefighting school. Over the course of a decade, he was responsible for hundreds of such cases, burning homes and parcels of wilderness. Orr maintains that Points of Origin is fiction. 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. Though he still maintains his innocence to this day, John Orr was convicted on four counts of first-degree murder, and nearly two dozen counts of arson. Orr eventually settled for a position at the Glendale Fire Department, where he worked his way up the ranks to fire captain and established a reputation for himself as a prominent arson investigator. John Leonard Orr (born April 26, 1949) is an American former firefighter, novelist, and convicted arsonist and mass murderer. Just after 8:00 P.M. he heard something over the PA system, but couldnt make out what had been said. This book is written with lots of detail and lots of characters so you have to pay attention. A shopping plaza hardware store caught fire, claiming four lives in the savage blaze. And someone else who was in that store may have heard him too. Orr returned to Los Angeles, where he applied to two police departments and two fire departments; while waiting to hear back, his wife gave birth to his daughter.

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