Forensic Files - Season 7, Episode 41 - Plastic Fire - Full Episode | Forensic Files

police say that this car crash which killed an elderly woman was murder and arson
the driver the victim's daughter insisted it was an accident two fire investigators came to two
entirely different conclusions was it an accident or murder you decide [Music] [Music]
[Applause] [Music] [Music] omega georgia is literally a one-stop-light town surrounded by peanut farms and cotton
fields on august 18 1996 a hot quiet sunday a man driving down a remote country road
saw a woman standing on a small bridge waving frantically the woman was sheila bryan
the sky jumped out of the car and he said what's the matter what's the matter and i said um
my mother's in the car in the car i think the car is on fire the car was down in a ditch and sheila's
82 year old mother was trapped inside from the bridge you could see the smoke coming out of the car
the man ran to a nearby house to get help by the time firefighters arrived the car was an inferno
when the fire was put out they found freda weeks dead inside the car she had been unable to get out
i just remember getting nauseated throwing up and the next thing i remember is just lots of people
sheila told police that she and her mother were on their way to the local cemetery to visit her father's grave
she said she was momentarily distracted and accidentally drove off the road into
the ditch just before reaching the bridge it's about a 30-foot embankment which was very steep and when i got to the
bottom there was a big jolt i was trying to get the car turned off and it wouldn't turn off
somehow finally got it off and the keys they dropped out of my hand because i jerked
them and they dropped out of my hand i kept telling her i said i'll be right back i'll be right back
sheila ran around the car to the passenger side door to try to get her mother out but the door was locked
[Applause] sheila said she ran up the embankment and flagged down a passing vehicle
she said when she looked down she saw smoke coming out of the car for the first time
when police arrived they noticed some irregularities that car traveled about 60 feet
down the grassy shoulder of the road prior to making a right-hand turn and traveling about 30
feet down this embankment where it came to its final resting point perpendicular to the road in the ditch
and then we started looking at there were no skid marks there were no signs in the grassy shoulder that there was an
abrupt turn of any type and the front of the vehicle showed no signs of damage consistent with running
down an embankment there were no scrape marks under the bumper under the undercarriage the
plastic cowling under the bumper had no damage to it whatsoever all signs that were indicative that this car traveled
down that embankment very slowly also suspicious the door to the gas tank was open
and the gas cap was missing no autopsy was performed on friday weeks but the toxicology results were puzzling
most people who die from smoke inhalation have carbon monoxide levels in their blood of 45 to 85 percent
but the carbon monoxide level in frida's blood was zero lab results showed that there was no
carbon monoxide in the victim's blood which could be indicative that she was not alive at the time of the fire
if freda weeks was dead before the fire started how did she die the local sheriff's department brought
in outside experts to help investigate the car accident and fire which killed frida weeks
the engine and exhaust system showed little fire damage but the passenger compartment was destroyed
it appeared that the fire started on the floor of the driver's side because investigators found burn patterns
consistent with the use of an accelerant there are also burn patterns that protruded through or over the driver's
door threshold which could be indicative that the door was open at some point during the time of the fire
the debris inside the car was tested for accelerants but tests came back negative
it's not uncommon in arson cases especially where fire departments have responded put a tremendous amount of
water on the actual fire scene the only personal items found in the car were a wallet and the charred remains of
a claw hammer the possibility that the hammer might have been the murder weapon led
investigators to exhume frida week's body for an autopsy that's when i heard that they were suspicious arson
you could have knocked me over with a feather i mean i just could not even believe
where they could even come up with that and the investigation angered sheila's husband too mr brian became more upset
and made the statement that well you guys need to do whatever you need to do and you need to do it because there's a
hundred thousand dollars at stake and the insurance company is not going to pay until you get done with your
investigation sheila's husband was referring to the liability coverage of his car insurance
which he believed would pay them a hundred thousand dollars for frida's death which kind of corresponded with the
amount he told us there in his driveway the autopsy found no injuries consistent
with the use of a claw hammer the surprising news was that frida's lungs and nasal passages did not have
any soot which usually happens when someone is alive and breathed smoke during a fire
the medical examiner found evidence of severe coronary artery disease and listed the probable cause of frida's
death as cardiac standstill dr clark said that she was probably alive at the time of the fire and may
have taken one or two gasps after that fire was started and then died the medical examiner did not rule the
death a homicide nevertheless prosecutors believe that the fire was deliberately set and
charged sheila bryan with arson and murder sheila pled not guilty at the trial prosecutors said the motive for the
crime was money the sheila killed her mother and staged the crime scene to collect a death
benefit from her car insurance i said that's ridiculous i said this is something that you're required to have
by law to be able to drive a vehicle and two there was no way for me to even collect
any money from them prosecutors knew that the car insurance wouldn't have paid anything after
frida's death but believe that sheila and her husband were unaware of that at the time of the
incident to prove it prosecutors pointed to the statement sheila's husband allegedly
made to investigators was the state's position that they intended to collect on that insurance money
and the reason the state thought that is first because of what carlos bryant told
them that that was their intention and secondly because they had hired an attorney to
collect the money at the trial sheila took the stand in her own defense her testimony however
differed in some respects from the statement she gave to police immediately after the accident
when she got on the stand she told this story about stopping on the edge of the embankment and
teetering i was sitting there and i said i was going to try and get out i opened
the car door and i still had my seat belt on when i did the car door come back and hit my arm
and then the car rolled down the ditch bank which was not anything that she had said at the
time of the accident sheila first told investigators that her mother showed no signs of distress after the accident
on the witness stand she said her mother wasn't responsive i told mama i said i'll be back in just
a minute she didn't respond well i thought she had passed out when she got on the witness stand that
story had changed remarkably and i think it didn't ring true to those jurors but it was testimony
about the burn patterns that i think sealed her fake the prosecution's arson expert said
those burn patterns were consistent with a fire started with an accelerant the jury found sheila bryan
guilty of arson and murder she was sentenced to life in prison i could not believe
that this had actually happened i said why why am i here i don't understand i even looked around for a rusty screw
to cut my wrist i said i cannot let my children be exposed something like this the rest of their life
and then all of a sudden something come over me and i said god if i'm here to help
somebody then you show me what you want me to do and and i had a piece about me after after
that sheila's friends and supporters believed in her innocence and raised funds to
hire an independent fire investigator to look into the case and the person they found
also happened to be an outspoken critic of arson investigations dr gerald hurst you had a woman who had a close
relationship with her mother and plenty of people who knew about this relationship they said that the reason
that she had torched her mother was because the mother was getting old wearing a diaper and she was just too
much trouble you see it just doesn't fit it was real clear to me that this case had divided that
community in this area half believing she was guilty and half believing that she was innocent
after sheila brian was convicted of murdering her mother in a car fire sheila's friends and family hired dr
gerald hurst to conduct an independent investigation i read the original investigation reports and all of the
police work done in connection with the the fire and then i read the trial testimony
and i found that there was a lot of bunko involved in the prosecution sheila's car was a ford hearst and his
colleague chris bloom quickly discovered that there had been a number of suspicious fires in similar ford
vehicles the problem was the ignition switch a box of electrical contacts on the
steering column by turning the key different contacts in the switch start the car and turns on
the electrical system and it's a small little component you don't normally would even think about it
but that little component has been the source of at least alleged 8 000 fires many of these cars caught fire while
sitting in garages and parking lots and some while being driven down the road in
1996 ford issued one of the largest car recalls in history a lead in the ignition switch had
electricity flowing through it constantly a plastic box separated the leads but in some cases carbon buildup caused
the circuit to arc it's creating a circuit where a circuit was not designed and and as a result
there's overheating that's occurring and that overheating will result in the ignition of the surrounding combustibles
the plastics and such dr hurst and chris bloom made another interesting discovery
the task force at the ford motor company that confirmed the ignition switch problem was headed by ralph newell
mr newell was also a fire expert and was the star witness for the prosecution in
sheila's trial i'm not saying that he did anything wrong but i'm saying he was under
heavy influence he was getting i think about 150 000 a year or at least that year and certain amounts in other years
working for ford motor company the key thing i noted was that not a single person
mentioned the ignition switch in the case and it didn't matter whether they said i
examined the ignition switch and eliminated as cause i looked at the ignition switch there was nothing wrong
there was no mention of it this was particularly interesting since sheila's first statement to police
mentioned her inability to remove her car keys after the accident miss brian after running off the road
tried to get the keys out of the ignition and couldn't get the keys out that indicates that they have something
wrong with the ignition lock or the ignition switch sheila's car was a 1987 ford cougar
but the recall only went back to 1988. bloom and dr hurst suspected that sheila's car had the same ignition
switch this is a recalled switch from an 88 ford escort the important thing to note
is the model number on the switch when i pulled the large wiring loom out of the 87 cougar
and examined this switch you can see the model numbers are the same but what caused the burn patterns in the
interior which prosecution experts said was from an accelerant this steering column cover and carpet
are from the same model and year car as sheila bryan's gerald hurst believes the switch inside
the steering column overheated and the plastic cover ignited melted and dripped like this one burning down through the
carpet like a liquid accelerant now if this were in a real automobile you would also begin dripping the same
molten flaming plastic on the seat which contains polyurethane foam and that would take off like the proverbial
house of fire anytime a fire consumes the interior of a car you're going to have masses of flammable
plastics that melt and flow they themselves the plastics become in effect liquid accelerants
hearst also said a gap in the door seal allowed melted plastic from the seats doors and dashboard to flow under the
door in not one but two spots it was not a liquid accelerant that produced it i'm quite confident it was
the plastic but that was of less importance to me than the fact that the prosecutor and all the king's horses and
all the king's men would not be able to produce that pattern with gasoline the information should have been
presented to the jury hey this is a known problem that it's a rare problem but it's a
known problem that catches fire after 10 months in prison the georgia supreme court unanimously
voted to overturn sheila's conviction the court stated the testimony that inferred there was an insurance motive
was improper and any financial motive was tenuous at best i immediately got on my knees and prayed
and thank god for for that because that just does not happen it does not happen in the length of time for me to even get
an appeal usually people stay in there for years and years before they even get an appeal
so i was very well blessed with that just as sheila was released from prison she had another surprise
prosecutors for the state of georgia said they would try her again for murder and arson
due to extensive publicity the second trial would be held in neighboring thomas county
and it was quite naturally a battle of the experts but which experts would the jury believe
converse wright was the new defense attorney representing sheila bryan at her second murder trial
there was no trauma involved and the blood test and the autopsy showed that this lady
was dead before the fire started most likely by a heart attack if the jury accepted that then that would that ended
the case right there but the cause of the fire was again the prosecution's focus claiming sheila
brian had set the car fire by pouring and lighting some type of liquid accelerant
it either came out of the tank or she brought it there there's no container found
there's no instrument like a siphon or whatever this time sheila's defense relied on dr
hurst's opinion for what caused the deadly fire an expert witness in a case performs several functions obviously he
testifies and gives expert opinion he also can help prepare cross-examination by pointing out
fallacies and foibles in the other side's position ralph newell the prosecution's star
witness in the first trial admitted he had worked for the ford motor company on the task force investigating ford's past
ignition switch problems but newell insisted he eliminated the switch in sheila's car as the cause of
the fire newl admitted however that he did not photograph or document his analysis of
the switch in his report without the insurance motive the prosecution argued that sheila had
grown tired of caring for her 82 year old mother they were all one very close-knit family
the testimony was unanimous about that there was no there was no dissent to that
after a four-day trial the jury deliberated for just under three hours before finding sheila bryan
not guilty i just thank you lord well you could cite this case as an example of the system
failing and that she did 10 months in jail for something she didn't do or you could cite it as an example of
the system succeeding because it corrected itself two different trials two different verdicts
the town of omega will never be the same there were heated debates about her guilt or her innocent up until the first
child and they continued of course after she was convicted and went to prison and and they continue to this day
but sheila bryan is a free woman and gives the credit to forensic science what made the difference
having a very credible expert that believed in what he was doing and what he was saying
this was a case of forensic evidence whether it be medical or automobile this was what this case was all about was
forensic evidence [Music] [Music] [Music] you

Sheila Bryan, who was convicted of killing her mother in a car fire, is granted a new trial. An expert fire witness's opinion on how the fire ignited differs from the prosecution's theory. If verified, it would clear Bryan of any culpability.

Forensic Files is the longest-running true crime series in television history. Evidence and interviews with experts help solve real crimes, disease outbreaks and accidents around the world.

Brief Summary

Sheila Bryan was wrongfully convicted of murdering her mother in a car fire, later exonerated due to faulty evidence and expert testimony.

Key points

Murder or Accident?. A car crash leads to a shocking investigation into whether it was an accident or murder.
Sheila Bryan's Conviction. Sheila Bryan is convicted of arson and murder, but the evidence is questionable.
Second Trial Verdict. After a second trial, Sheila Bryan is found not guilty, raising questions about justice.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

Was it an accident or murder? You decide.

0:23WatchDec 10, 2021

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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