Forensic Files - Season 10, Episode 1 - Trial by Fire - Full Episode | Forensic Files

on a bitter cold night a family home went up in Flames killing one man and leaving a second person
injured a witness blamed a kerosene heater local investigators suspected arson forensic science was needed to
sort through the contradictions was this an accid or cold blooded murder [Music]
the weather in Jackson Georgia is usually warm most of the year but in January of 2003 there was an
unusual cold snap with temperatures below freezing Citrus Growers used kerosene heaters to save their orange
crop and Jean and Jim long used a kerosene heater in the workshop of their home so the pipes wouldn't freeze but
something went terribly wrong when fireman arrived the house was totally Ablaze Jean long had escaped the
fire but her husband Jim was trapped inside my father-in-law came to the door to wake us he said
that he said there's a fire at your dad's house and it's bad and it was Eng Gul in
blanks very shocking moment firemen searched the area around the home but there was no sign that Jim
had escaped I just thought my dad would come walking out but no the Long's home was attached to a
workshop Jim used to store the equipment for his tree trimming business it too was on fire
after the fire was put out the firefighters cut through the metal siding they found the body of
53-year-old Jim long almost like disbelief that was going on at that time just real hard to
almost like it was a dream that you wanted to wake up from Jean was taken to the hospital
where she was treated for minor scrapes and bruises one of the bruises was was on her
chin she told police that her husband tried to fill their kerosene heater with fuel and then there was an explosion he
was covered in Flames she tried to put the fire out with her hands her gloves caught
fire in a panic Jean said she ran from the workshop into their home to call the fire
department at the fire scene investigators found the remnants of the kerosene heater but the plastic fuel can was
found outside the workshop door in perfect condition inconsistent with Jean's story and major Mike over believed that
the position of Jim's Body was inconsistent with most fire victims and it appeared that his legs were
outstretched and his arms were above his head it appeared to me the way someone would be positioned if they had been
dragged into a particular spot or carried that was the first thing that I noticed that they were not in a fetal
type position that that you see um in fires in addition Overby found Visual Evidence of poor patterns around Jim's
Body the type of patterns which result from the use of an accelerant that to him suggested that James long had been
lying on the floor and gasoline or an accelerant had been poured over him intentionally and he had
been set a fire and Jim's autopsy revealed even more evidence that he was unconscious before the fire started
[Music] during Jim Long's autopsy the medical examiner found something suspicious
there wasn't as much dirt soot and smoke damage in his lungs as one would expect
in a fire victim Mr long did not have enough of a chemicals that are found in the blood after a person dies of smoke
inhalation for that to have caused his death he had breathed some smoke he had soot in his throat but he had not
breathed enough smoke to kill him and Jim also suffered a fractured skull Dr Bill bass a world famous
forensic anthropologist at the University of Tennessee was asked for his opinion we have three fractures
irradiating out from the same Source The Source being the hole that is in the skull that is an indication that there's
been blunt force trauma there is not due to the fire the cause of death was determined to be thermal injuries and
blunt force head trauma his death was listed as a homicide so you're behind homicide
investigator major Michael Overby asked Jean long to explain what happened on the night of the
fire Jean said her husband was filling the heater with kerosene when it exploded you said that he relid it
inside well he didn't reely that he would ref fuel in it he was putting fuel in it with what a
kerosene with what container it was yet the red plastic fuel can was found outside the
workshop all right how did it get back outside I don't know and over be noticed the Jim's arms
and legs were outstretched when he was found underneath Jim's Body were several aerosol
cans there was one under his head there was one under his right leg and another one up under his
back and that appeared odd that appeared um to me something that could be used to accelerate the damage of the
body in a fire patterns on the concrete floor around the body were also suspicious these are called pore
patterns right right here absolutely nothing else on the planet makes these marks
nothing this is what it leaves especially in concrete when an accelerant such as gasoline is poured on
something you know what I mean Jean also said she called the fire department from a phone in the house but
investigators found the outside door was locked if Jean locked it on her way out
police saw this as evidence that she was in no hurry to save her husband her husband is on fire burning in this
building she runs outside but she locks the door behind her see to me that's very
important you think a jury's going to buy this I can tell you right now they won't major Overby asked Jean to take a
polygraph test and she agreed she was asked Point Blank if she poured her husband with gasoline set him on fire
she failed that question she failed if she was present when he was murdered investigators discovered that
Jim was angry with his wife for spending so much time in Kansas each year visiting
relatives there were also rumors that Jim may have been planning to leave Jean major Overby believes on the night
night of the fire the couple may have been discussing a divorce which prompted an argument it's our theory that there
was a domestic situation between Mr long and his wife um I believe that the abrasion on
her chin came from him possibly slapping her and his skull fractures I believe was a result of her striking him in the
head with some hard object over be believed Jean poured an accelerant on Jim set him
on fire then inadvertently carried the fuel can out of the workshop when she left to call for help I felt like it was
a strong circumstantial case felt like we had eliminated any other reasonable hypothesis for this
death the day after her husband's funeral Jean long was charged with arson and Murder She didn't seem shock
she made no statement at the time she acted like she was expecting it Jean told her lawyers there was an
explosion in that workshop and that there must be evidence in the Ashes to prove
[Music] it Jean Long's family hired defense attorneys Wade crumblyy and Barbara moon
for what they feared would be a long difficult trial Barbara Moon met with Jean in the
county jail she was a very broken woman started just twiddling her hands and shaking unbelievably I thought she was
very genuine and I believed in her it's just that simple a week later Jean's Church
managed to raise the money for her bail Jean's family insisted that her marriage to Jim was a happy
one Jim's daughter from a previous marriage agreed I was glad he met somebody and that he was happy and that
he wasn't going to be alone every time you seen Jim you seen Jean seen one you seen both of them they went everywhere
together and Jean had no Financial motive Jim's life insurance amounted to less than
$40,000 but local prosecutors were convinced this was an open and shut case her theory was she saw the opportunity
to get rid of him and Port him and lit it and then made it seem or tried to tell everyone that it was an
accident the defense asked John lentini a nationally known fire investigator for
his opinion with respect to the quality of the fire investigation it ranks up there with the worst that I have ever
seen and I have seen a lot of bad fire investigations in my day this was over the
top local investigators suspected accelerance had been used to start the fire but lentini discovered that the
workshop housed containers of fuel for Jim's tree trimming equipment in this shop we had vehicles and we had tanks of
acetylene we had tanks of propane we had containers of liquid fuels he had chainsaws in there
lots of papers clothing lots of combustibles and when it went up it just really went
up and lentini disputed police claims that there were Poe patterns around Jim's Body he said the heat of the fire made
such a determination impossible once you get to full room involvement you're going to get all
kinds of patterns that are easily misinterpreted it happens all the time I've created them by mistake uh I've
created them on purpose the homicide investigator thought that the position of Jim's Body
was suspicious we felt like from the very beginning based on the way he was laying
on his back with his arms stretched over his head and his legs straight out that
he had been placed there but jean had always contended that while her husband was on fire he was
flailing about was it possible that the Jim struck his head on the metal table nearby causing the fractured skull and
knocking him unconscious I can tell you that there is a blow to the side of the head that
caused fractures now who did that blow or how that blow got there I can't tell you could he fallen on the metal
workbench yes he could have lentini believes the charge of arson and murder had been a rush to
judgment and that the kerosene heater was to blame basically what you do is you fill this up with kerosene or diesel
fuel you throw a wick of some kind down in there what happens when you have this
Lake of Fire down in here is you're generating lots and lots of soot and that soot coats the inside and it itself
will catch on fire like charcoal so if you don't allow this thing to cool down sufficiently that's pretty dangerous
in a surprising discovery gas chromatography of the residue inside the heater fuel tank identified gasoline and
not kerosene it takes more heat to ignite kerosene gasoline ignites at very low temperatures the difference in
flammability between gasoline and kerosene is is just tremendous and I've worked on a lot of fires where people
misfuel Ker en heaters with gasoline end up having big fires Jean said they were
using the heater outside before they moved it indoors since a gallon of gasoline is
equivalent to 20 sticks of dynamite when Jim poured it into the hot fuel tank it
caused an explosion just as Jean described the residue of gasoline inside that smudge pot was the physical
evidence and Mrs Long's story was the eyewitness evidence it fits together and she couldn't have faked that
part the fuel canister found outside the workshop which investigators found so suspicious contained kerosene proving it
played no role in the fire prosecutors still believe Jean long murdered her husband but which version
would the jury believe [Music] when Jean long went on trial for her husband's murder prosecutor showed
jurors the videotape of Jean's interrogation in which she contradicted herself and then he fell down in this
floor but that's what you told me Miss Jan I'm just I'm trying to put together what you said and try to make it make
sense and it don't it doesn't make sense to me no it doesn't so how can you expect it to make sense to
me but the defense attorneys use the same tape to show something else major Overby employed a standard
police technique when he ended the interrogation and left the room with the tape machine still running in this
situation a suspect will often say something incriminating [Music] in this case she said something
else oh God help [Music] me what major Overby had hoped that happened I think worked against him I
think he was in hopes that she was going to say something to hurt her minate herself and what she did she reached out
to God and started begging for help to give her the strength to endure that hostile
interview the defense claimed that the fire was accidental that Jim long mistakenly
filled the hot kerosene heater with gasoline causing the explosion Jean frantically tried to put
it out and when she couldn't she ran to call for help at some point Jim struck his head
on the workbench which fractured his skull and caused his death the defense offered no explanation
for why Jean locked the door on her way out of the house except that it was force of habit something she did every
time she left the house Jean long herself took the stand in her own defense she came across as
completely genuine terrified about the prospect of what she was going through and terrified at reliving the moment of
what happened that night the jury didn't hear about the results of the polygraph test polygraph
examinations are in admissible they're in admissible for reason uh they're not reliable bottom line Jean's family says
the medic she was taking may have been a contributing factor she was just really
drugged up more or less she was on the pills the hospital had given her to help her stay calm and
to kind of take in everything after 8 days of testimony the jury deliberated for just 3 hours before
rendering their verdict they found Jean long not guilty of all charges this case never should have been
brought they should have consulted an expert my training uh is in violent crime interpretation and crime
scene um interpretation and and reconstruction to this day major Overby doesn't agree with the verdict or with
John lentini's conclusions about the fire I believe 100% today as I did uh during the trial that that she killed
her husband I believe that she got by with murder the unanswered question to me would
be why the jury decided what they decided after the trial and the not- guilty verdict Gan long moved out of the
state and is trying to put her life back together again she's still G she's finally being able
to not concentrate on the trial and stuff and being able to work through her emotions the remnants of Jim and Jean
Long's house and workshop are still standing a reminder that forensic science isn't only a tool to convict the
guilty but to protect the innocent as well if I could keep this from happening to another family
and so other people wouldn't have to go through what we went through what we need in our system of
justice is for the state to have proof that it really is a set fire and they didn't have that here wasn't a case of
charging the wrong person with a crime there was no crime at all it was an accident
[Music] why [Music] [Music]

Brief Summary

A fire kills Jim Long, raising suspicions of arson against his wife Jean, leading to a controversial trial and her eventual acquittal.

Key points

A Tragic Fire. A family home went up in flames, leading to a tragic death and injuries.
Investigation Unfolds. Investigators suspect arson as they uncover inconsistencies in Jean Long's story.
Trial and Verdict. Jean Long's trial ends with a surprising not guilty verdict after intense scrutiny.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

It was almost like a dream that you wanted to wake up from.

Jean Long reflecting on the tragedy of her husband's death.

2:45WatchSep 16, 2024

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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