An old VHS tape reveals a Stockton Arsonist mystery | Forensic Files

[Music] this is my domain my hell today we're talking about a case where the crucial evidence that
broke It Wide Open was so disturbing so unusual investigators had quite literally never seen anything like it
and today you're going to see it too I'm Olivia Lavo journalist and creator of the case File presents podcast the
Bakersfield 3 I've teamed up with case File to bring you some of their most memorable cases in a visual format
today's case is based on case File episode number 2080 the Stockton arsonist it was a
blazing hot August day in Stockton California in 1989 when a man War calling Joseph was driving along the
highway with his wife and son when their car began to overheat Joseph's wife decided to wait behind while Joseph and
his son walked to find help as the pair walked down the steaming Road and cars whipped by the boy noticed a crumbled up
camo jacket on the ground a military style unit patch was sewn onto the sleeve when the boy went to inspect it
he found an unmarked VHS tape buried underneath of it out of curiosity the boy grabbed the tape and he and his
father were on their way the entire family later on was intrigued apparently so when they got home they all gathered
around the tele television set and put the tape into the VCR it looked like some type of home movie shot in the
darkness suddenly a single story Ranch House came into frame it was fully engulfed in flames and then the
narration began a man's voice in a hushed but excited tone began describing the home's fiery demise see what I could
do ladies and gentlemen it seemed fairly clear the person behind the camera was the one who started the fire he also
began addressing someone named Omar look at it Omar this is what I've been doing on
your week's vacation as the video continued Sirens began to whail in the background it appeared firefighters were
getting to the scene suddenly the tape shifted to an actual horror movie Nightmare on Elm Street it wasn't clear
if the fire footage had been taped over the movie or if it had been purposely edited this way
the family was obviously horrified and immediately brought the tape to police now arson investigators with the
California Department of Forestry took on the case and started by going to the area of the highway where that tape had
first been discovered and sure enough that camo jacket was still there upon inspecting it investigators found
several audio cassette tapes of heavy metal music there was a glove found in the jacket as well as a small ceramic SC
Gull and a little wooden device used to grind and crush up herbs investigators suspected these items could have some
sort of devil worship tie in keep in mind this was 1989 so the US was very much still in that satanic Panic stage
which essentially was a mass fear that devil worshippers all over the country were committing all sorts of crimes and
investigators on this arson case noticed the anonymous arsonist frequently referring to hell and evil look at it
look at it look at the fire this is my domain my hell one of the investigator big questions early on was did the
arsonist intentionally leave these items specifically that tape for someone to find or did the per intend to come back
for it regardless the tape was the best shot investigators had at figuring out who was behind it much of what the
arsonist said on the recording was hard to make out because he whispered but the
name Omar was clear investigators theorized that Omar might be the arsonist term for the devil they even
speculated it was possible he was saying Omar which is German for Grandma but the
most popular theory was that Omar was another man's name possibly the owner of the home being burned to the ground with
the likely significance of the name Omar investigators began referring to the fire as the Omar fire one of the biggest
initial obstacles was not knowing where the home that had been set on fire was located if they could only get an
address they might just be on their way to solving the case the home in the video appeared to be a single story
ranch style home that was under construction investigators combed through reports of house fires in the
area to see if anything appeared to fit the bill but but they kept coming up empty they began to wonder if the fire
even happened in California period and Dread began to set in for quite a few of the investigators one who apparently
couldn't sleep after watching the tape and others feared that this might just be the start of a crime spree that would
escalate and quickly for example the New York based serial killer the Son of Sam
started out with arson before moving on to murder investigators spent a full year trying to find the location of the
Omar fire before ultimately deciding they needed the media's help so they went to the producers of the Prime Time
television program Unsolved Mysteries the best the episode aired in September of 1990 the night the episode premiered
one viewer felt a wave of shock fall over him as he saw a clip of that disturbing video his name was Ed and he
lived in Redwood City California about 80 Mi west of where the videotape had been found a year earlier Ed immediately
recognized the burning structure as a home that had been built behind his it had been under construction when the
fire was set 2 years earlier in August 1988 the tape was found almost exactly one year later Ed immediately called the
Unsolved Mysteries tip line and it turned out he wasn't the only viewer who recognized the house the cont contractor
of the home a man named Bill had poured quite a lot into that house it was over 4,000 square ft built in Redwood City's
Emerald Lake neighborhood it was an expensive project with the home valued at just under $900,000 now think about
how much money that was in 1988 today that would be more like $2,250,000 anyways when Bill discovered his project
had been burnt to the ground he reportedly Sat by the ashes and wept and when the home was later rebuilt he even
paid employees to stay overnight and stand guard he could not believe his eyes when he saw the footage on Unsolved
Mysteries of his home being burnt to the ground Bill and Ed were two of 1600 tipsters to call into Unsolved Mysteries
many people from across the country called in to report fires in the area they thought thought were similar to the
Omar fire but a few phone calls from San Mato County California stood out the most now 3 years earlier in summer
1987 that was when it began for Emerald Lake Hills neighborhood in Redwood City when they began experiencing a slew of
fires all were determined to have been started from gasoline and Molotov cocktails as many as 30 fires were
thought to be connected to the attack most of the homes set on fire burned out naturally before causing any significant
damage to the structures but a few of the fires destroyed homes under construction including the home that was
in the video now back in 1987 and 1988 prior to the discovery of that videotape investigators theorized that the
arsonist was terrorizing the area because they were angry at the development of new hom homes in the
previous rural area now during this time San Mato County received Federal funding
for a new sewer system which led to increased residential construction itd come at the perfect time as the county
was in the heart of the Silicone Valley which was rapidly growing alongside the tech companies's base there so as more
people moved to the area more homes were needed and the property value was rapidly increasing in November 1988 a
100-year-old cabin was in the process of being turned into a luxurious home when
it was burned down investigators discovered a message scrawled on a wall inside that read quote neighbors Revolt
please no more new houses and now investigators in San Mato County believed that investigators 80 M away in
Stockton were looking for the same arsonist they had been looking for for the last couple years and get this when
firefighters got to the scene of what would later be called the Omar fire they set up their own video camera to record
it for training purposes so comparing their footage was even more confirmation that the two jurisdictions were in fact
investigating the same case it also confirmed that firefighters had been standing just feet away from the
arsonist as he made his home movie the fire department's trying to put it out and the Unsolved Mysteries
episode had uncovered the location of the fire but there was another crucial tip that came in from a woman named
Doris who lived near the home that burned down in the Omar fire and the name Omar jumped out to her immediately
see the family that lived next door to her had a 17-year-old son named Omar who was no stranger to getting in trouble
when authorities went to question the teen he almost immediately broke down and explained he had a friend that was 2
years older than him and together they had started the fire and filmed it Omar explained that he decided to remain
silent while his friend narrated The Blaze now the friend was a 19-year-old named Jason which is not his real name
instead of investigators immediately bringing him for questioning they decided to place him under surveillance
and it just so happened that as they did that Jason's garage burned down and as investigators combed through the rubble
they found knives and saws that were stained with blood yep and mutilated animal remains they also found a Freddy
Krueger mask the villain from Nightmare on Elm Street and if you're not super familiar with the film here's a recap
the evil spirit of Krueger seeks revenge on a group of teens as after he's burned
alive in a boiler room in a fire that was set with Molotov cocktails now after discovering all of
this investigators brought Jason in for questioning and just like with Omar Jason was quick to crack investigators
believed Jason was a very troubled young man he was described as being Sullen and
withdrawn one moment and deeply emotional the next when investigators searched Jason's home they found other
videotapes that he made that appeared to follow the media coverage of the Omar fire he also had footage of black spray
painted letters on a wall that read no more houses which was strikingly similar to the graffiti found at the
100-year-old cabin that was burnt down in 1988 there were also more home movies with Omar in them one appeared to be
Jason walking around with a hunchback and vampire master gone he snarled at the camera with an upside down cross
painted on his forehead I'm on my way to get that fat son of a and I'm going to kill him I'm
hungry tonight cuz tonight is the night where all evil and satanic War shippers come where Satan rises again and
fulfills the destiny of hatred and evil and sin in another clip Jason is shown wielding a knife at a dummy he refers to
as father Jason then asked the dummy how it was doing and then said quote hope you're doing real good then stabbed the
dummy in the chest and used the knife to slice its head off another video showed
Omar and Jason playing some type of War Style game in a rural area that investig
ators believed to be the Emerald Lake Hills neighborhood which is where they had now admitted to burning down at
least one home now investigators opinion in terms of if these two had motive definitely differed some say they didn't
and others say they believe that the boys were upset about the construction in the area that they seem to enjoy
hanging out at in total arson investigators linked Jason and Omar to the burning of 11 buildings and a total
of 15 separate grassfires investigators estimated that they caused over $2 million in damage even though
Jason was 19 at the time of his arrest he was 17 at the time of the Omar fire and other crimes so both he and Omar
were tried as juveniles Omar served time in a juvenile detention center and Jason
was sent to a mental health hospital now this is pretty fascinating to me the boy's identities have never been
publicly released so it's really not known what's happened to either of them after they were sentenced but according
to some online sleuths who have said they believe that they have uncovered Jason's true identity he died in 2017 at
the age of 45 after walking along a highway in San Mato County where he supposedly tripped and stumbled into the
road now although the fire took place about an hour and a half away from Stockton California where the tape was
found the case remains heavily associated with Stockton and it is still a mystery why or how Jason and Omar's
tape got there in the first place well I would love to hear your guys' thoughts about this one in the comments thank you
for watching until next time good night ladies and gentlemen your house is next

On a hot summer’s day in 1989, a father and son travelling through Stockton, California, discover a VHS tape left by the side of a road. When they take it home and decide to watch it, they make a disturbing discovery. The tape contains footage of a house burning to the ground and was apparently filmed by the arsonist who lit the fire. When investigators looking into the tape hit a series of dead ends, they enlist the help of popular television series Unsolved Mysteries, and the case becomes known as that of the infamous Stockton Arsonist.

Based on Case 280: The Stockton Arsonist https://casefilepodcast.com/case-280-the-stockton-arsonist/

CREDITS Narration – Anonymous Host Research & writing – Erin Munro Creative direction – Milly Raso Production and music – Mike Migas Music – Andrew D.B. Joslyn

----- Olivia LaVoice

The Bakersfield Three https://casefilepresents.com/the-bakersfield-three/

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Brief Summary

The Stockton arsonist case reveals disturbing footage leading to the identification of two young arsonists linked to multiple fires.

Key points

The Disturbing Tape Discovery. A family finds a VHS tape that reveals a horrifying fire, leading to an investigation.
Unsolved Mysteries Leads to Breakthrough. A viewer recognizes a burning house from a disturbing video, sparking new leads.
The Omar Fire Connection. Investigators link a series of arsons to a teenager named Omar and his friend.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

This is my domain, my hell.

The arsonist's chilling declaration during the tape.

3:42WatchJul 27, 2024

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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