Catastrophe | Criminal Podcast | Forensic Files

I would say overall you know my my childhood was good you know you know except for you know the the the early
Runnings with the police I got I got to be well known amongst uh Jun officers and other
police officers in Quincy Jimmy Scott grew up in Quincy Illinois right on the Missouri Illinois border the two states
are separated by the Mississippi River Jimmy was close to his two brothers Mike and Jeff the three boys were just one
year apart he would I think kind of Mastermind something and then they just kind of you know he was he was like a
leader type this is Jimmy's mother Sharon Scott she says that when her kids were little they got in trouble all the
time not anything too unusual smoking cigarettes ringing random doorbells in the middle of the night sometimes they
built small fires in their yard but Quincy is a small town and so the Scott boys and especially Jimmy got
reputations and then in 1982 when the brothers were 13 12 and 11 they rode their bikes to their old school Webster
Elementary the school had shut down the year before the doors were locked and so
the brothers climbed up a fire escape kicked through a window on the second floor and snuck in you know I know we uh
kind of did some some Ram sacking through some of the some of the classrooms um I got me a big red
kickball like yeah that that that was pretty neat they wandered into the auditorium where they'd been in school
plays the two older brothers Mike and Jimmy were smoking the youngest brother Jeff asked for a cigarette but his
brother said no so he asked if he could hold the lighter Jimmy dared Jeff to light one of the stage curtains on fire
and Jeff who was 11 held the lighter against the curtain it caught on fire easily and they couldn't make it stop
Mike tried to stomp it out but it was spreading up the curtains they ran back towards the window where they'd broken
in and then Jimmy remembered that Mike had taken a grade book Jimmy lit the grade book on fire too he was worried
about fingerprints and threw it along with the lighter into a classroom and closed the door the brothers biked home
and promised never to tell anyone by 2: a.m. the entire town smelled like smoke people including
Jimmy's parents watched the school burn from their front porches 80 firefighters
work through the night to put it out but it was still burning the next morning four other fire departments were called
in to help we had no idea that it was going to burn to the ground it was gutted I think Mom knew because she
that's one of the things she did was she smell her hands and Mom knew that that that something was a Miss but she didn't
know the the extent of the scope and I don't think we did either it was probably I would say
probably about 3 days later that uh the police came to the house arson investigators worked with
local teachers to identify any kids behaving strangely which the Scot boys were and Jimmy had even done some
cryptic bragging the police interviewed the brothers one at a time Mike first then Jeff Jimmy last they all confessed
they were tried before a juvenile judge with a court-appointed defense attorney Mike the oldest got probation till he
was 18 but he would go home with his parents that day Jeff the youngest was sent to live with a foster family Jimmy
who the judge determined was the in Ator was moved to a youth home to finish out
the school year uh then if I recall I was sent to have an evaluation a mental evaluation um and after that I think I
returned home they diagnosed him with mild depression and add by August of 1982 the whole family was back under the
same roof but things felt different people criticized Sharon's parenting to her face other kids weren't allowed to
play with the Scott Brothers especially Jimmy people knew who I was and I think that there was a
fear probably amongst teachers and others that what's he going to do you know what what's going to happen is he
going to do something that's going to hurt you know me or or anybody else after he graduated from high school
Jimmy spent a lot of time hanging out and drinking with his older half-brother Dan one night Jimmy had a lot of beers
and then lit some wood on fire in an old carport destroying an antique tractor and he kept going from there small arson
here and there I think dumpster fires maybe a car fire you know petty theft just Petty you know if if something
happened in my neighborhood the cops were the first one to call to our house you know they they they were the first
one to show up you know where was you at what was you doing right around this time a man named Neil Baker was promoted
to Detective with the Quincy Police Department in one of his first cases as a detective was a series of arson an
apartment an old carport and a car wash he says there wasn't much crime in Quincy detectives normally spent their
time on misdemeanor marijuana cases he was trying to find a pattern to the fires and he was able to connect each
fire to Jimmy Scott one was a car wash on Broadway here in Quincy he was mad at the owner because something the owner
did I believe to his brother one was an old guy's garage here in town uh shed he
had a bunch of wood in it he was showing off for some friends he was in his late
teens and one was a young lady that had rebuffed his advances and he set fire to the
apartment house when he went to arrest Jimmy detective Baker brought along his younger brother Bruce also a detective
they arrested Jimmy on six counts of arson and one account of disorderly conduct Jimmy was 18 years old when he
began his 7-year prison sentence he'd only end up serving three of those seven years when he got out of
prison he got a job at Burger King he dated a woman named Susie they got married and he went back to hanging out
at Dan's house every night you know I was a drinker partyer love loved to have fun love my friends my family and then
all hell broke loose and Quin and Jimmy Scott was right in the middle of the worst of it for today's story we
worked with contributor Noam osband who learned that in a small town people have
a very hard time forgetting who they think you are I'm phebe judge this is Criminal the summer of 1993 was a
memorable one for people living on the Mississippi River in Illinois and Missouri the winter before they'd seem
particularly heavy snowfall and then that spring and into the summer it just rained and rained and rained two to
three times the normal amount of rain the soil was saturated so the rain water just ran into the river I me we just had
kept having rain rain rain rain rain and the everything just kept going up the rivers kept going up and they was trying
to keep the the levies from breaking and they was breaking up and down all the way up and down the the
Mississippi thunderstorms are likely tonight and the National Weather Service still saying locally Heavy Rain they're
patrolling they are sand bagging they are cutting brush so they can get to even more ly so that they can get maybe
get some bulldozers in we are this morning um I have declared a state of disaster for the city of Ken can you
tell me what the river stage is at Quincy please where is it all going to go more than a thousand levies failed that
summer along the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers 20 million Acres were destroyed more than 500 counties flooded
doing almost $15 billion in damage but the town of Quincy was safe it sits up high on Limestone Bluffs protected from
the river however its sister city just across the Bay View Bridge West Quincy Missouri was not safe not at all their
Levy simply wasn't tall enough so they they tried to bulldoze the dirt from the basee of the levy up toward the top and
then started lining it with plastic sheets and put sand bags on top of that 3.5 million sandbags in all well
everybody was working very hard to keep you know the the levies from breaking and it was it was a hot summer um and
everybody was just doing their part you know filling sandbags and that one of those volunteers was Jimmy Scott I
started working on the West Quincy Levy you know help Patrol walk P sandbags uh I think it did that for like four or
five days Jimmy says he took the work seriously and felt useful when he finished working at the levies he often
went to Dan's house for beers there are always a lot of other people hanging out
there watching baseball and drinking and Jimmy told them stories about what he'd
seen happening at the river one evening Jimmy played basketball with some teenagers in Dan's driveway one of the
boys asked Jimmy if he was scared the levy would break to which Jimmy replied if the Levy Breaks then we'll have good
catfishing in West Quincy on July 13th engineers said the levy could hold 32 ft of water the water
level was at 31.9 hundreds of communities and thousands of people are bracing for the
highest water in 20 years I told my husband I'll stay till I see the first snake and then I'm
gone they think they've got the levy be high enough they're worried now about what's seeping through the bottom well
meanwhile the levies at West Quincy and Hall Illinois are holding as tensions rise flood watch 93 is
next on the night of July 14th Jimmy was back at Dan's and his wife Susie was there too Jimmy chatted with a
16-year-old named Joe flax Jimmy talked about wishing his wife wasn't always around she worked across the river in
Taylor Missouri and Joe flax remembered Jimmy saying if that Levy Breaks I hope it strands
Susie over and Taylor so I can party here without [Music] her on July 16th the water was cresting
and even though the Army Corps of Engineers and National Guard had been able to make the levy taller by
bulldozing sand upward that process also thinned the lovey walls pretty dramatically Jimmy went down to the bayy
bridge to help and told a national Guardsman that he'd already been taught how to spot trouble areas Jimmy joined
another volunteer here and they got to work inspecting a on Mile Stretch there there was uh a larger amount of of water
or seab bridge in one one section this Levy and I was like well we need to find someone in charge and go tell him
according to Jimmy they set out in opposite directions to try to find someone in charge Jimmy walked South and
when he got to the Bay View Bridge he found Sergeant Duke Kelly this was just before 2 p.m Sergeant Kelly asked Jimmy
to lead him back to the trouble spot and according to Jimmy the two men walked about a half mile before Sergeant Kelly
realized they were walking toward a low priority area he stopped and said my main concern is with my guys uh south of
the bayy bridge but I'll make sure I inform somebody and let him know Sergeant Kelly turned back but told
Jimmy to keep an eye on it and that if it got worse to let someone know every so often they had you know everybody
thinks when they talk about a sandbag Levy that it's sandbag roll sandbags that wasn't the case every every so
often they had uh sandbags to where they used to use a Shore up a depressed area
and the levy was you know it was like up and down up and down it wasn't a solid you know height all the way down the the
levy you know it was up and down up and down up and down I moved uh I took sandbag from the brim and put them on a
depressed area of the levy you heard the ly break I mean being on being on the baby
bridge I seen you know sort of trees cracking and it was loud you know we we heard the Rushing Water from half a mile
away you know quar mile away a 100t gap opened in the levy over 14,000 Acres of farm land were flooded barges were
propelled from the river onto farmland and one crashed into a gas station which promptly exploded the Bay View Bridge
was shut down for 2 months forcing drivers to go hours out of their way to cross the river all traffic on Quincy's
Bay View Bridge was forced to stop when a levy just several hundred yards Upstream of the bridge broke and the
fight to save all this land was over now this happened 3 minutes ago this was 3 minutes ago folks
water is spilling out over in into West Quincy and people understandably are being asked to
evacuate the premises because of a fire that is erupted at the air Coast storage
station gentlemen back behind the squad car now it's just it's so difficult to describe to see that quantity of water
uh and to know that the destruction of what is coming it's uh you know it's just moments
away Jimmy says he was walking back to his car when he was stopped by Michelle mccormac a reporter for local TV station
wgm he told her that he'd seen water coming in and move sandbags on top of the puddle after that he stayed on the
scene and helped the Coast Guard unload boats from a truck and then he spoke with Michelle mccormac again for the 10
p.m. broadcast that night I'm watching TV the news cuz I watch the news and I see James Robert Scott standing on the
bridge talking to a reporter and she was doing a fine job interviewing detective Neil Baker was at home
watching this and he just couldn't believe Jimmy Scott was actually there to help he did not look like somebody
had been working on Levy and the heat was uh incredible it was very humid it had been raining every fraking day for
quite a while this guy was a little sweaty and stuff because it was so hot he didn't have on a life vest he didn't
couldn't answer this uh good reporter's any of her softball questions she wasn't
interrogating him who who were you working with where were you working what' you have for supper
where did you have supper couldn't answer anything and I I'm looking at him I knew him and uh from previous
encounters and uh it looked to me like this is you know this is a guy that uh had something to hide and it could
barely contain himself the news made it clear that Jimmy was one of very few eyewitnesses everyone else was working
along parts of the levy that seemed weaker Bob null the sheriff of a neighboring Illinois County also watched
Jimmy live on TV and wanted to ask him a few questions uh the first time I got interrogated was on July 17th the day
after the ly failed the the evening of July 17th it was late at night and lo and behold who pulls up almost as we're
getting out of the car Sheriff no can we talk to you so yeah what's this about you know what it's about and I told
Susie I said I'm he wants me going around am insurance department I said I'll be be home she no I'm going with
you and she did but you know uh I remember we come out and Susie asked me said uh what's
going on I was like they think I broke the levy and she said did you I said no I
didn't Sheriff n's next move was to start questioning people who knew Jimmy he talked with some of the teenagers
who'd hung around Dan's house drinking they told him what they knew and repeated things Jimmy said about how a
levy break would mean good catfishing on July 22nd startling news as an investigation is announced into
the West Quincy Levy break the Maran County Missouri and Adams County Illinois sheriff's departments along
with the Quincy police department will be investigating the possible sabotage of the levy specifically the sighting of
an unfamiliar man on the levy at the time of the break Commissioners say they call the law in in order to quell rumors
and let Levy workers know their efforts were not in vain if this Levy gave way of its
own effort we would almost have to say it's the Lord's will and the Lord's will also
but if if if it has been caused by something other than natural occurrence I believe that the the whole Community
who has pitched in so valiantly to help in this lever fighting can feel that we were not
defeated now obviously because the tangible evidence has been washed away investigators will have to gather all
the circumstantial evidence that they can the crime was in Missouri not Quincy Illinois but it was a larger issue than
that detective Neil Baker and of course the Missouri authorities were pretty constrained what they could do because
it was all underwater so I interviewed uh pertinent people I did an investigation and as well as my brother
Bruce the Baker Brothers helped form a task force with other County state and federal law enforcement agencies to
investigate the levy break even the FBI got involved this went on for months but
Neil Baker felt Jimmy Scott had to be involved him and others others said that you know I made statements that I want
the levy break so you know I can do some fishing and partying and and and have suie on the other side so I can mess
around with other women and his that I'm not going to say that I didn't make you know some of
the statements that that that that were were supposed to be made and I remember uh telling Neil Baker and
and his brother the same thing you know if if I said that you know I don't remember but it was just in in a joking
manner [Music] regardless on October 1st the Baker Brothers paid a visit to the Burger King
where Jimmy worked they waited in the parking lot for Jimmy to finish his shift but as I'm getting ready to pull
out Neil Baker and Bruce Baker pull up in front and pull pull in front of my car why why I couldn't pull out and they
come in the car and say James guys say yeah step out the car see yeah so we got a warrant for your arrest for
burglary okay what I burglarize oh we got you have plenty of time to talk about that I will have plenty of time to
talk about that and we get down to Quincy police department and they put me in um an
interrogation room or or or holding room we had actually five crimes to uh interviewing in
B Numero Uno would have been the levy break but we thought he might have committed a armed robbery a purse
snatching a burglary to a vehicle and uh bad checks Jimmy admitted to writing bad
checks and stealing a backpack from a truck but his story about the levy never changed he told him what he told
everyone else all along that he moved sags he said on tape that he moved at least four to five sandbags and that he
never intended to make the levy worse there's no physical evidence which shows that he broke it it's it's mostly like
the fact he was there and that there people like Witnesses about things he said is that I I have no sense of if
that's common or uncommon for somebody to be convicted on that degree of evidence with without any physical
evidence well physically he was there physically he was the first one that saw it break
I know what you're getting at uh physical evidence I think's often times overrated it's not
it's a lot more flimsy than people think it is and U so i' I'd say yeah I'd say that's not
that uncommon you know I remember when my trial was going on the OJ trial was going on and I remember on the news
you'd see the OJ trial OJ Simpson trial in in big bold gold letters well here when my trial was going they had the
James Scott trial same way Big B go letters the main question of the trial was whether the levy would have failed
regardless of Jimmy's presence Jimmy didn't testify his attorneys presented an expert named Charles Morris a civil
engineer from Missouri who told the jury that the levy was absolutely in danger of failing on its own Morris said that
anyone sabot aing it would have died Swept Away by the undercurrent for the prosecution experts
testified to the strength of the levy detective Baker testified describing Jimmy as a career criminal and
16-year-old Joe flax who by this time was incarcerated himself recalled Jimmy saying that he wouldn't mind his wife
getting stranded on the Missouri side of the river and then Joe flax added something he'd never said before that
Jimmy planned to break the levy in advance of July 16th after a 3-day trial and 4 hours of
deliberation the jury reached a verdict I'm the first and only person arrested charged tried convicted and sentenced of
knowingly causing a catastrophe Jimmy Scott was convicted under a Missouri law that makes it a
felony to quote knowingly cause a catastrophe according to the law one can cause a catastrophe by explosion fire
flood collapse of a building or the release of poison radioactive material bacteria viruses or other difficult to
confine forces catastrophe is defined as death or serious physical injury to 10 or more
people or substantial damage to five or more buildings did you know that law even existed the the law about
intentionally causing a catastrophe had you no other others didn't either you know I'm I'm thinking is
property damage matter of fact when it come to my sentencing I think uh my attorneys looked you know tried tried to
find other cases that were similar there is none there is none like this at all I don't think they had enough
evidence that all right I'll just say it like this they I think they was looking
for a scapegoat Jimmy's mom Sharon Scott and he was there and think well you know
Jimmy Scott was the one he was over there and and he he was the one that broke the
[Music] levy during sentencing the judge cited Jimmy's previous convictions going all
the way back to the fire at Webster Elementary and then he sentenced him to life in
prison we met with Jimmy at the Jefferson City Correctional Center a Maximum Security Prison you know I'm I I
have one of the one of the highest profile cases in this camp you know the most unique in the state you know being
that that there's no other case like mine at all and when guys hear about it uh you know are you kidding you're for
murder I said no I'm not this is what I'm here for have you ever been convicted of any violent crime no it's
but you like to fire that that's one of the things that uh uh the judge said in my sentencing he
said he said it's it's funny that it started out started out with fire and in [Music]
water Jimmy's lawyers appealed his conviction on the grounds of procedural misconduct arguing that the prosecution
had not revealed all their Witnesses beforehand the Missouri Supreme Court gave Jimmy a new trial in
1998 this time the defense called a soil scientist named R David Hammer who testified that when the Army Corps of
Engineers bulldoze sand from the bottom of the levy walls to the top they made the Walls Way Too Thin he said it was
quote absolutely insane adding that it wasn't a matter of if that Levy would fail but
when Jimmy was found guilty a second time he will be eligible for parole in 2023 you know there are probably things
that I've done in my life you know leading up to the flood um that I never got caught for
that be in prison for you know my my personal my my personal opinion but as for the West Quincy Levy no this is a
guy that I don't think there's much beyond what he would do detective Neil Baker he broke that Levy in my opinion
because he's an arsonist at heart and it was similar to to setting a fire it was
very simple thing to do people think how can one guy do all that damage a child could have done that damage there was
not much to it so he did $100 million worth of damage there people in both trials who
were experts who had said that the levy seemed like it might have broken anyways
and levies had broken in other places and so has there ever been a time where you have doubted I guess uh since that
you know since you first saw him on TV whether or not he did it no not ever and and remember I have a history with Jimmy
Scott I've talked with him before and reference other crimes before and uh I can kind
of I have a feeling for when he's telling me the truth and when he's lying to me there's only two that knows what
happened that night and nobody's going to change my mind that is God Almighty and Jim that's the only
ones I can't I can't change what happened and sometimes things are happen for they everything happens for a
reason everything happens for a reason but me and the river don't get along I just no it's not my I'm far far
away from the river I can stay I'm I'm [Music] happy no I'm oand criminalist produced by Lauren
Spore Nadia Wilson and me audio mix by Rob buers and Johnny Vince Evans special thanks to Adam pitluck who wrote a book
about Jimmy called Damn to Eternity we'll have a link on our website our intern is mati urino Julian Alexander
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In 1993, more than 1,000 levees broke along the Mississippi River, flooding thousands of acres. Most of these cases were accidents due to the river rising well above its usual levels. But in West Quincy, Missouri, where there was another culprit, James Scott. His crime? Knowingly causing a catastrophe by breaking the levee. But his motive was not what prosecutors expected.

This story comes to us from Noam Osband.

For more information, check out Adam Pitluk’s book, Damned to Eternity.

Music in the episode “When in the West” by Blue Dot Sessions “No Solace” by Podington Bear “Turning to You” by Blue Dot Sessions “Paragon” by Keosz “A Simple Blur” by Blue Dot Sessions “Lucky Stars” by Podington Bear “Lenses” by Blue Dot Sessions (an original song for Criminal)

Criminal is a show about people who’ve done wrong, been wronged, or gotten caught somewhere in the middle. Hosted by Phoebe Judge. Part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.

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Episode 74 originally published 9/8/2017 https://thisiscriminal.com/episode-74-catastrophe-9-8-2017

Brief Summary

Jimmy Scott's troubled past leads to his conviction for causing a catastrophic levy break in Quincy, Illinois.

Key points

The Scott Brothers' Mischief. In 1982, the Scott brothers' childhood antics led to a disastrous fire at their old school.
The Levy Breaks. On July 16th, the water level was dangerously high, leading to a catastrophic levy break.
Jimmy's Arrest. Jimmy Scott was arrested for the levy break, despite no physical evidence against him.
Jimmy Scott's Unique Conviction. Jimmy Scott became the first person convicted of knowingly causing a catastrophe.
The Law of Catastrophe. A Missouri law defines catastrophe and its severe implications for offenders.
The Appeal and New Trial. Jimmy's conviction was appealed, leading to a new trial with new evidence.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

Mom knew that something was amiss.

Jimmy's mother suspected something was wrong after the fire.

3:01WatchDec 15, 2022

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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