The Firefighter's Secret | Full Episode + Post Mortem | Forensic Files

[Music] on November 25th 2020 it was the day before Thanksgiving I received a phone call
shortly after 4:00 from the Mount Morris police chief and he asked me kind of frantically is anybody my house and I
said my daughter Melissa there is and said there's a fire and it's bad my sister Melissa she was 9 months
pregnant about to have a baby in 2 days what do you remember from November 25th 2020 it was my 17th birthday my
birthday is November 25th me and my mom were at a store we're picking out a cake
and we finally got home and my brother Carl frantically is calling my mom have you heard from Melissa have you heard
from Melissa and we're like no why Carl said the neighbor called and he said the
house is on fire so at that point my heart just sank because we were not sure if Melissa was
home or not I just wanted them both to be okay and all I could think was please just
have one of them at least one of them make it through the night when everyone said they didn't
know where she was and they couldn't hear from her I knew I knew just had that gut feeling that she was
gone for a huge tragedy like that to occur the day before Thanksgiving on Julia's birthday right before the baby
was to be born it was just so much when I arrived at the scene I was told the victim was found late on the
floor in front of the stove Melissa Lish was a 27-year-old EMT we're trying to figure out why there's a fire in the
kitchen we couldn't tell if it was intentional or accidental there was all kinds of possibilities running through
our heads but we we didn't know what happened to her my daughter Melissa she's very
thoughtful and that's why she got into being a paramedic she wanted to help people
[Music] when MSA first told me she was pregnant she told me a couple things about the
dad Matt Floy they on and off hung out for years and had a similar click of friends Matt Ploy was a firefighter
paramedic he was a good firefighter Matt was somebody that was Dependable on the
fire scene he was just one of the guys he was Keeping a Secret the fact that he fathered a baby in the hopes that the
child wouldn't be born for Matt he never had a child before he didn't want to make it known to other people because he
just wanted to keep that part of his life private Matthew py was a person of interest on day one simply because he
was at the scene Matthew Ploy later told investigators that he was at the house to see Melissa to talk about um the
[Music] baby he admitted he was there he told them everything that they would have
needed to know about his presence there didn't have anything to add they discussed their finances and
then Matt left as she was making some lunch she talked about tring some food or something but we I didn't stay
around I believe from the very beginning he was trying to set up a story that there was an accidental house fire that
had been cooking something which would explain why her body was found in the kitchen when you got the call about
Matthew py possibly being involved in a murder what did you think uh denial that it wasn't one of
our people it doesn't chime with what a firefighter is we put fires out we don't start fires
we help people we don't hurt [Music] people it is unthinkable [Music] [Music] before the fire that set Melissa lish's
home Ablaze on November 25th 2020 the day had started with excited anticipation Melissa was due to give
birth to a baby boy in Just 2 days and Thanksgiving was a day away she was going to have a nice private
Thanksgiving with Dad so I gave her a call the morning of the 25th and uh we talked for about 2 and a half hours
Cassie ball and her sister Melissa had lots to chat about we talked a lot about the future we talked about what was
going to come with the baby the conversation ended because she looked outside the window she said you got to
be kidding me she's like he's freaking here again I told him he's got to stop doing
this at the door was 33-year-old Matthew Ploy the expectant father of Melissa's baby she said I'll tell you what he
wanted I'll give you a call right back bye hung up does she ever call back no my sister never called
back Melissa Lish and Matthew py met and became friends 7 years earlier while each was in college they maintained a
casual relationship the friendship says the lambish family cooled off once Melissa let Matthew know about the
pregnancy Melissa told her family he did not share her interest in becoming a parent he wanted her to get an abortion
she didn't want that he blamed her ghosted her it did come too upset Melissa because they were friends for so
long she thought he'd at least want to be involved a little bit yes Melissa thought that he would want something to
do with a baby to that point she thought he was a pretty nice guy then she saw a
different side of him and that really upset her Dean and Gus were fully prepared to
help their daughter with whatever she needed for the baby I had said if he doesn't want to be a part of the baby's
life you know don't push the baby is your child told her whatever you needed I'll I'll help you financially she knew
she had plenty of family support everything would have been fine the Lish family was a large one one
Melissa had four siblings she was already an aunt and was known for following her own path Melissa was
unapologetically herself and that is what she was she's perfect mix of sugar and spice not too spicy not too sugary
it's just perfect Melissa was strong she was fierce she was a go-getter Melissa liked
to reinvent herself through hairstyles and careers most recently the 27-year-old had been working as an EMT
Mel kind of fell into the line of work she had an experience in college that took her to a emergency room and she
really appreciated how she was treated and she wanted to do the same for other people you're proud yes that was her job
and she took it seriously as her due date neared Melissa had to stop working to make things
easier she moved into her childhood home with her dad her parents had divorced several years earlier Melissa grew
increasingly excited about becoming a mom even though she and Matthew had little contact Melissa would continue to
send him like sonograms or when things would happen cuz sometimes he would respond a little bit but she didn't know
really where he stood exactly but mulsa wanted her baby to have the option of having the mother and the father so she
kept the communication with him he often shut down Matthew wasn't just shutting out Melissa he kept the fact he was
going to be a father a secret including from his co-workers and chief Rob Schultz at the Carol Stream fire
district several counties away from Melissa's home we're here 24 hours a day and it's
a just a normal uh course of being a firefighter and that you talk about your family your personal life and what's
going on good bad or indifferent I knew Matt as a single guy that didn't have any
kids even Matthew's own parents did not know about the pregnancy until Melissa told them Melissa wanted them to have
the opportunity to be a part of their grandchild's life how did Melissa say his parents responded to the news of a
grandson Melissa said that his parents were very nice that um they said let me know what you need I'll help you any way
we can how did Matthew find out that Melissa had told his parents they were having a baby I believe believe that the
parents then approached him but it was not long after that that she had said he's mad I told them because he had kept
it a secret yeah Melissa celebrated the upcoming birth with family and friends at a baby
shower she had let everyone know she was having a boy it was a happy time until nearly 2 months later on that fateful
Thanksgiving Eve it was just all so surreal while Melissa's family tried to process their loss investigators were
hoping to provide them with answers about what had happened the fire debris is everywhere Brian ker then the lead
detective at the ogal county sheriff's office headed to the kitchen where Melissa had been found everything's
covered in Smoke ceilings walls have fallen down and everything's a mess ker and other
investigators also headed outside to an ambulance to view Melissa we've noticed that she didn't
have a whole lot of fire damage to her what does that say that the fired in killer
[Music] we needed identify the area of fire origin and what may have caused that
fire Michael P then a special agent with the Illinois State Fire Marshall's office was trying to establish whether
the fire at Melissa lish's home was accidental or intentionally set what are you looking for where the
greatest damage is at where the fire patterns are at we looking at everything and everything in this picture that may
have something to do with the origin of the fire where do you think the fire started uh I believe the fires over here
actually it's in these cabinets where these cabinets used to be above the stove area but when P examined
the stove thinking that perhaps cooking Flames caused the cabinets to catch fire
he saw that neither the oven nor the burners had been turned on all the controls are in the off position and
there is no fire damage in the interior of this oven to show that this was some type of cooking
fire also did not find any electrical issues so we're starting to run out of accidental causes and we could identify
at least three very simple and easy ways to exit this resident much of the house besides the
kitchen remained accessible so pool thought Melissa could have found a way out it was what I would call a survival
fire this young lady was a paramedic she's used to dealing with emergencies for her to totally lose her
perspective and stand there and try and fight that fire when you start putting all these things together that you start
coming up with okay this makes no sense while P was inspecting the house investigators talked with the Lish
family ker learned about the phone call that day between Melissa and Cassie that
Melissa ended when Matthew Ploy arrived at the house we learned from the family that he
was a fireman Melissa's brother Carl told investigators he had already spoken on
the phone to Ploy telling him he knew he had been at the house that day Carl also
told P about the fire and that someone had died but not that it was Melissa investigators did that when they asked
ploy to come in for an interview that evening [Music] disease okay as you watched his interview what
did you think about his demeanor his responses emotionless very soft spoken Matthew said he went to talk to Melissa
he wanted to talk about money about being allowed at the hospital when she was set to be induced in two days and
that that's why he was there in that interview Matthew made a reference to a deadline when explaining his decision to
go to the house that day I mean there's a deadline for for that so we were a deadline for for a pregnancy
there's a deadline it was a phrase that investigators didn't quite know how to interpret was Matthew a suspect at that
point no he was not a suspect what are the next steps in the investigation we need to determine the cause of
death we don't know if if Melissa had a medical episode or if somebody did something to her or if the carbon
monoxide from the fire killed her we don't know to get those answers two autopsies
would be performed one 2 days after Melissa's death and then another about 2 weeks later while lab work was completed
the results normal carbon monoxide levels and no soot was found in her system what was found was evidence of
strangulation including hemorrhages around her neck Melissa it was determined had been
murdered we have to plan a funeral and while we were still waiting for things it was nearly 3
weeks on December 14th 2020 the Lish family held a funeral for Melissa and her unborn baby who Melissa was going to
name Barrett we didn't get to kiss his forehead touch his cheek the first time we got any kind
of contact they were in a casket and the first time I touched his hand I just remember gasping just and I
had decided I was going to keep holding his hand something Melissa didn't get to
do Melissa's family was convinced that Matthew Ploy was responsible for their profound grief that he killed Melissa
simply because he did not want to become a father Matthew investigators would learn
had been juggling multiple women in his life I believe he did it because he's selfish and it was going to change his
life having a child Melissa wasn't asking him for anything no money nothing he could have walked away so why I think
it was his pride he wanted to keep it a secret with no other suspects and with Matthew admitting to being at Melissa's
home that day investigators were also circling in on Ploy but were still Gathering
evidence we had collected DNA evidence at the autopsy and we sent that to the crime lab we got in search warrants for
phone records we were in the process of getting that information back they were also waiting to get information back
from Amazon about possible recordings from an echo dot that Kar had noticed and was retrieved from the fire damaged
kitchen we were hoping it would record conversations or something from the day between the two of them that Amazon Echo
dot could turn this case around could have it could have recorded Melissa screaming for help yelling out his
name we didn't know what it would be [Music] I was contacted by our police chief to
give him a call immediately that he had something very important sensitive to talk about when Carol Stream fire chief
Rob Schultz returned the call he couldn't believe what he was hearing one of our firefighters was
being investigated in a in a suspect in a murder that occurred about 2 hours from our fire District's
boundaries it was now 9 months since Melissa lish's death in a house fire that had sent shock waves through the
community and Mount Morris where her home was located but firefighters where Matthew
py worked in Carol Stream about 75 M away were unaware of the fire Ploy had said nothing when you heard the name
Matthew py in that call what did you think I was you know there's no way this could be Matt they have something wrong
here but that disbelief started to change when Chief Schultz checked to see if py worked the day of the fire and
learned he had called out sick a knot in my stomach like literally wanted to throw
up the fire chief's Sinking Feeling only got worse when he learned that investigators believed Matthew killed
Melissa and their unborn child because he did not want to be a father and then set the house on fire in
hopes of destroying evidence we had placed Matt immediately on paid administrative leave when I
called Matt in to to tell him I just said I'm being told that you're under investigation for a murder of your
strange girlfriend and the baby that your father of did you ask him why he hadn't mentioned it didn't feel that it
was uh something that he wanted to talk about and he felt it was personal matter
and didn't want to disclose it while on leave on August 28th 2021 Matthew Ploy was called in again for
questioning my name is Brian I'm the lieutenant with the Sheriff's Office CL willingly appeared without an
attorney and I wanted to contribute and be in the life of our child over the course of the 7-hour interview he
explained to investigators why he was at Melissa's the day of the fire so we talked about you know what I could p
and that we we just said we work it out later to um visit again he said when he left that
afternoon Melissa was talking about making lunch she talked about joing some food or something but wa I didn't stay
around most of the S hours was filled with investigators asking questions and Matthew Ploy saying very little so did
you go there to kill her or did you just go there to talk to her and something happened we kept accusing him of things
and he never said I didn't do it he never said you guys got the wrong person he was just emotionless and he wouldn't
communicate not once in seven hours not once did he get upset most people would have told us I'm done but he just sat
and listened to us had you ever experienced an interview like that before never it wasn't just the lack of
communication that made lieutenant ker think P was guilty but on the rare times py did talk the unusual way he freeze
things did you intend to kill her I no intention to her during that 7-hour interview at one point Matthew
did say I had no intentions of hurting Melissa did that make you do a double take yes cuz in our opinion that means I
hurt Melissa but I didn't intend to do it but it was not an admission of guilt so ker wanted to see if clo would say
anything more and made an unusual request of fire chief Schultz we asked Chief Schultz if he would wear a
listening device so that he would have a conversation with Matthew we would be able to hear it and record it and try to
gain some evidence that way when Brian asks this of me I'm pretty taken back and initially I had said no way and I
did some thinking about it and called them back and said yes you have a lot of responsibilities as a fire chief but I
can't imagine you ever thought wearing a wir tap would be one of them no I don't
freely talk about it it's not something that I'm proud of it was something that needed to be done in the hopes of
helping the investigation there's a grieving family out there that that's looking for
answers and so on September 9th 2021 Chief Schultz called Matthew py and asked him to come in to
talk and he agreed he says I'd like to come talk to you Matthew came in later that day the fire station was quickly
cleared of all other personnel and Brian ker and other investigators headed over
they were able to place a device that just recorded audio on a phone on fire chief Schultz's desk
and listened in from outside the fire station and from an adjoining office how are you feeling nervous very
nervous scared Chief Schultz tried to learn what happened to Melissa by appealing to py
on a personal level I'm trying to find answers and I'm trying to help you help me help me walk through I mean what what
happened but the nearly 2-hour conversation yielded very little info from Ploy with him again again barely
speaking about the day Melissa died I remember saying fill in all the blanks for me and isn't it odd that no one here
knows that you're going to be a father like that's that's something we celebrate here what do he say nothing uh
head was down uh a lot of the conversation did he ever say I didn't kill Melissa and my baby he did not with
none of the interviews resulting in a confession there was still no arrest something that exasperated the Lish
family oh it was excruciating and I mean we were pestering the uh the police [Music]
constantly there were several reasons for the delay there was the wait for the Fire Marshals report which concluded
that the fire caus is most likely incendiary in nature possibly the result of a fire being intentionally set in an
effort to conceal a potential homicide and getting information from Amazon on whether Matthew's voice was recorded on
that Echo dot they retrieved from the kitchen took time it did reveal voices but nothing that proved helpful for our
case it wasn't even on the day of the murder investigators had also waited to obtain Matthew P's DNA until after the
August 2021 interview hoping he would first confess to killing Melissa we got the results back saying
that it was his DNA under her fingertips turn around your hands behind your back
on March 9th 2022 after a year and a half of investigating Melissa lish's death with a police body cam rolling
Matthew py was arrested on charges including murder the intentional homicide of an unborn child and arson
technically right now you were under arrest the motive that the state painted was just
an inaccurate portrayal of Matt by the time of Matthew pl's arrest he had hired attorney John cup they painted him to be
this monster that at the drop of a hat after a career of saving people decided to suddenly start killing people you
were indicted by the grand jury the evidence doesn't show that Matthew py murdered Melissa Lish or their un bone
child [Music] [Music] Melissa Lish was loved this is not someone who had enemies lined up around
the block who wanted to see her deceased rather there was one person and one person only and that was Matthew py
yesterday 16 M panel assistant State's Attorneys Allison Huntley and Heather crw were part of the team Prosecuting
Matthew py all signs pointed toward Matthew py from the very beginning what we wanted to portray to
the jury is that he was a a guide saving lives for his entire career defense attorneys John cup and
Liam Dixon say their client was misunderstood and as a firef was a responsible person not a murderer Matt's
plan was to financially support her he had offered her money before his plan was to be
there Matthew Ploy pleaded not guilty to all charges on March 18th 2024 more than
3 years since Melissa's murder his trial began in ogal County Illinois the prosecution argued that Ploy murdered
Melissa and their unborn child because he didn't want to be a father he was Keeping a Secret the fact that he
fathered a baby in the hopes that the child wouldn't be born the defense told the jury there's no evidence py harmed
Melissa and that he had gone to see her that day just to talk they discussed their finances they discussed what would
happen with the birth of the child and then Matt left as she was making some lunch I believe from the very beginning
he was trying to set up a story that there was an accidental house fire that she had been cooking something I believe
that was how he laid out the scene which would explain why her body was found in
the kitchen prosecutors called fire investigator Michael P to testify about his findings he told the court that he
found no evidence of an electrical or cooking fire and you start ruling these these various different things out how
certain are you that this fire was intentionally set I'm certain that it was intentionally set no doubt No Doubt
during cross-examination the defense suggested that Michael pul was unsure of his findings citing language in his
report such as most likely and it is believed you use the phrase it is believed because that's an uncertain
opinion correct just the way I describe it but that's an uncertain opinion correct not
to be P says he was just using standard terms used during fire investigations I review information the state also called
forensic pathologist Dr Amanda humans who had performed one of the autopsies there was no soot in her
Airways and her measure of carbon monoxide in the blood was within normal limits so she was deceased prior to the
fire Dr humans testified that Melissa's body showed evidence of a violent struggle the jury heard about the
hemorrhages around Melissa's neck a specific type of broken blood vessels called peal hemorrhages which according
to Dr human is a Telltale sign of strangulation this is the most fatig hemorrhages I've ever seen in a
strangulation case to sit through trial was beyond devastating Deana Lish came to court
every day I had been prepped by the victim's Advocate things were going to be gruesome I was going to see a lot
Deana says she always kept Melissa and her babyar it in her thoughts she was so strong willed and had such Pride that
baby was going to be a strong guy Matthew pl's parents also attended the trial they've been by his side
throughout this yes I reportate one of the most important witnesses to testify was Melissa's
sister Cassie talking about the day Melissa died and that call which Cassie says was interrupted by Matthew py what
was the last thing you're s said to you during that phone call sorry she said she make the conversation
quick and you'd call me right back did Melissa call you back no jurors watch those recorded
interviews with investigators where Matthew Ploy admitted he was at the house how long were you at the house
it wasn't more than an hour think prosecutors wanted jurors to hear that phrase py
used there's a deadline for for that referring to the birth of his son as a deadline he
said there's a deadline to these kinds of things that was his deadline to murder Melissa if you think about it
logically Thursday's Thanksgiving and Friday is her due date his deadline the only time to do this was Wednesday so he
took off work and completed his goal the prosecutors found even more telling what
plot didn't say especially during that 7-hour interview 4 hours of which were played for the jury what is chilling is
the fact that he never denied murdering Melissa and he never denied killing her baby boy not one time it's chilling from
a personal perspective but that's also excellent evidence that the defendant couldn't bring himself to lie about that
fact over the course of multiple interviews for several hours he was calm and reserved his silence defense says
actually points to his innocence not his guilt he had a right to remain silent but the police are allowed to continue
to poke and prod and try to get him confused and he just didn't buy into any of that they say their client when he
did speak was open with investigators he told them everything about his presence there he didn't hide any of
that he just never admitted what they wanted him to admit which was that he killed Melissa and his child which he
didn't do do you think the fact that the fire didn't burn down the whole house does that play in Matthew's favor or not
I believe it does if he's a firefighter and he's trying to destroy evidence you would think he would have the ability to
set a fire to complete that goal but during three days of testimony the state laid out the case that it
could have only been Matthew Ploy who set that fire to conceal evidence of the murder of Melissa and their unborn baby
something the defense was about to contest the states fire expert deemed that this was arson he did and we had an
expert who directly contradicted that what do you think of Matthew pl's interview with investigators join the
conversation on Facebook and X [Music] [Music] the states expert didn't do a fraction
of what he should have done to properly determine the cause of the fire this should have been an undetermined fire to
try to poke holes in the prosecution's case the defense called only one witness retired firefighter and independent
inspector John knp he was not at the scene of the fire but did study reports and photos I felt like there was
probably more information that could have been gathered that wasn't there he disputed the prosecution's claim that py
set the fire he testified that the evidence collected doesn't prove that the fire was intentionally set by anyone
I couldn't make that determination to whether or not what the cost of the fire should be other that
detered when you're not there at the scene you don't see what we've seeing not always does every little tidbit end
up in a report Michael P says the defenses expert is wrong and that his investigation was thorough we're looking
for anything and everything that could have contributed to the origins of this fire they weren't there they needed to
be there when we were doing the examination Matthew Ploy waved his right to testify during closing arguments the
defense accused investigators of having tunnel vision the complete lack of Investigation of any other individual is
shocking I've never seen such a poorly investigated case they didn't follow up on any other leads that may have
happened any other boyfriends any other anybody else if there had been another lead investigators certainly would have
followed it there simply wasn't prosecutors told the jury that the evidence evidence was clear Melissa Lish
was strangled to death by the only person who had a motive to kill her Matthew Ploy who was juggling multiple
women and didn't want to change his lifestyle he clearly did not want to be involved in this baby's life this is
someone who actively hid the fact that a woman in the community was carrying his
child he clearly had made some choices about having multiple relationships but did not make him a
killer the trial lasted a week and after 2 hours of deliberation the jury returned with a
verdict we the jury find the defendant Matthew CL guilty of first-degree murder guilty of all charges I could hear
people sobbing and gasping but like I I couldn't even lift my head what did you feel
shock shock the verdict was a relief for chief Robert Schultz he says the case had long
waigh on him and everyone at the firehouse who had worked with py there was a huge closure here when bat was
found guilty you still have the family out there that lost a daughter lost a grandson you're never going to change
that 3 months later on June 27th 2024 Melissa's family and friends gathered at the courthouse for
sentencing Matthew Ploy listened with little reaction as Victim Impact statements were read we lost Melissa in
the prime of her life Melissa and Barrett should still be alive and enjoying life with their loving family I
shouldn't have spent Thanksgiving that year feeling like there was nothing to be thankful
for this shouldn't be real but it is real it is all real because one man decided to make the decision that
Barrett and Melissa weren't needed or wanted none of this had to happen all he had to do was walk
away Matthew Ploy also addressed the court with this brief statement say anything other that I
share the pain and sense the L of most do you believe him oh no definitely not for him to say I and two have pain
and loss from Wilson bear like that what a joke the judge imposed the maximum sentence Mr py you are sentenced to
Natural life imprisonment Life Behind Bars Matthew py will likely die in prison does that give you any sort of
Peace no I know it's the justice system and we received our justice but nothing about
this is just it's not fair nothing about this is fair no punishment in the world
brings them back I miss her personality I think it's her sass Melissa's sister Julia Lynn tries to
hold on to fond memories mosa was I believe still is the best person that I've ever met what do you miss most
about your daughter and there's a grandson you never got to meet but where did he
start I mean he was he was going to come into my home I was looking forward to raising
him through all of their grief the Lish family honors Melissa in many ways we took toys to a local homeless shelter to
honor Barrett to honor Barrett we donated money to the no kill shelter that Melissa got her cat from
they also sponsored a tree at a local Arboretum that Melissa loved every year at the holidays this tree will always be
lit as part of their display shining brightly like Melissa always did was so strong she was fierce she was powerful
nothing was going to stop her and she was always going to prove herself and she'd do whatever it take to do
[Music] it you've probably heard of the NCIS from the hit TV series but we're about
to take you inside it's real life work listen to 48 Hours NCIS early and AD free on the 48 Hours Plus subscription
on Apple podcast as a kid growing up in Chicago there was one horror movie I was too
scared to watch it was called Candyman but did you know that the movie Candyman was partly inspired by an actual murder
listen to Candyman the true story behind the bathroom mirror murder wherever you
get your podcast [Music] welcome back to postmortem I'm your host anarie green and today we're discussing
the case of Melissa Lish now the day before Thanksgiving in 2020 firefighters responded to smoke at an Illinois home
but once they were inside they found Melissa she was 9 months pregnant dead on her kitchen floor she was scheduled
to give birth actually 2 days later she was going to be induced so of course there's a lot to discuss when it comes
to this case we are joined today by CBS correspondent Nikki batist and 48 Hours producer Ruth chenet thanks for being
here it's good to see you hello thanks okay so just a reminder to everyone I say this every week if you haven't
listened to uh the 48 Hours episode yet you can find the full audio uh just below this episode in your podcast feed
so go take a listen and then come back for this conversation okay let's get into it so Matthew Ploy he suspected of
killing Melissa and the baby that they were expecting and then setting the fire in her home to conceal the death but
what's surprising about this is that he's an actual firefighter and so one would think if anyone would be able to
set a fire that would be difficult to investigate it would be him that was actually one of my very
first thoughts when we were researching the story is wait a second he seems like
the one person who might be able to set a fire that would destroy evidence but he's a firefighter he's not an arson
investigator he doesn't necessarily know how to start the perfect fire and remember if he did in fact do this you
know he would have wanted to destroy all the evidence but he would have no way of
knowing exactly how to commit the perfect crime in that way and even as you know from other stories we do people
have plans and they make mistakes who knows what happened if he panicked if he didn't complete his plan but yeah
somebody who usually puts out fire starting a fire yeah putting out a fire is definitely much different the oven
wasn't on the burners were turned off but when you see pictures of the crime scene and anyone who watched the show
sees I mean the kitchen is destroyed when she was found but a lot of the rest of the house including the room that had
stuff for the baby which is gut-wrenching to see was intact so we know from the hour that the relationship
between Melissa and py it wasn't great it was but it had never been a real sort of solid relationship anyways do we know
anything about Melissa's family and py whether they had a relationship her older sister had heard about him but
didn't meet him so it was one of these friends on again off again they never really dated they were never boyfriend
girlfriend the people that we spoke to had not met him before um and the older sister recalled
hearing about him from when they were friends like how you talk about your group of friends to your siblings
Melissa and mattity P had known each other for some time they met during college they went to different colleges
but they met at a trivia night at a bar and as Rus said had this casual relationship but I remember Cassie her
one of her sisters who we talked to in the hour telling a story about Melissa saying that the father of her baby was a
bald firefighter and Cassie went on Facebook sort of scouring trying to figure it out and did oh and sort of
said is it him really and she's like you know I believe confirmed it the reason she wasn't telling people the name is
cuz according to the family Melissa was like he doesn't really want to be part of this and so why do I need to tell you
who he is if he's not going to be part of the life of the baby I mean how did her family feel about that well I know
Gus Melissa's dad he didn't want to know the name because he didn't want to know
he didn't want to know who the father was because the father didn't want to be in the baby's life and I think as
Melissa's father he's probably mad like I don't even want to know who this guy is I think my dad would feel that way
right but I think probably her sister clearly wanted to know right I'd probably do the same thing I'd be all
over Facebook and the family said don't worry about it if he doesn't want to help you that's fine we will we'll help
you financially we'll help you with support she had a lot of brothers and sisters she was already an aunt so they
were like don't worry we'll help you yeah if there's anything that you get um from this hour about her is that if
there's somebody who could handle being a single mother she could like she'd take on the challenge and you certainly
see that she has a village supporting her um what about P's parents I mean this would have been their grandchild
Matthew did not want his parents to know he was expecting a baby and Melissa decided ultim
to take it upon herself to tell Matt's parents and as we understand it you know they probably later spoke to him about
it so we don't know for sure investigators say they don't know for sure if that could have set him off but
certainly in our interview with some of Melissa's family they wondered if it did
I remember Dean her mom saying you know if only she hadn't told his parents would she maybe be here would my
grandson maybe be here according to Melissa's sister uh Melissa told told her that his parents were like isn't
that exciting we're here we'll help you and and the reason she did it she mentioned to her family oh I might tell
his parents they're like why bother leave well enough alone but she felt very strongly they had a right to know
this is according to her family that his parents had a right to know that they were going to be grandparents and she
was you know wanted other people in the baby's life and she always thought they seem like nice people so she didn't see
why she shouldn't tell them which is admirable and and it says a lot about about Melissa we did try to speak with
his parents but they didn't want to sit down with with us with 48 hours but they
were as we understand it there at the trial the defense said they certainly were supporting him we saw them the day
of the sentencing really could you I know it's hard to tell but like what was their demean or like I mean this has got
to be incredibly tough for them stoic like I remember they were very serious but never had the chance to speak to
them to know what they think now you know after the trial so Melissa's family they kind of know of Ploy and they know
that he's the father of the child but they don't know much else they know he's a
firefighter when Melissa's body is found uh in that house that has been set on fire did they immediately think he might
be responsible for this they did the family did not necessarily investigators and the reason was that Melissa had been
on the phone with her older sister Cassie earlier that day of the fire and they're talking about the baby they're
talking about Thanksgiving and Melissa says I got to go Matt's at the door something like that and she said I'll
call you back and that was the last anybody heard from Melissa so right away they know he's at the house and I think
to the family because he had been at the house that day she didn't want anything
to do with him um and he had come by the house two days before too and she's like
why is he keep coming to them right away they're they're thinking he may be invol
investigators you know look at it a little differently obviously he's a person of interest because he was there
and they called him in for you know questioning that evening the evening of a fire he willingly came and spoke with
them but also you have to remember in the beginning too you don't know for certain
that she was even murdered right you know the there's a fire she's in the kitchen she's dead maybe she was cooking
something and it went up and they don't really know what caused the fire right no they never found uh you know a device
investigators had dogs come in and sniff for accelerant they they didn't find any
accelerant they didn't find any electrical issues so what they determined was that it was started at
the cabinets above the stove they believe to make it look like something happened in uh in the kitchen I think
for this story it mattered less what started the fire What mattered was was it accidental or was it intentional an
accidental fire and an intentional fire could both be started in the same way really so I think that was really what
it was all about so this is something that you guys may not know but do you know if they had an adversarial
relationship she was not afraid of him like it wasn't like oh my God I'm not going to open the door that and Matthew
py had zero criminal record you know he was known to be sort of quiet at work it
wasn't someone where you have like oh you know that employee who flies off the handle all the time that was not Matt
and she tried to you know keep the door open in case he wanted to be involved but she really had no reason to be
afraid of him right so you know perhaps one of the saddest sort of aspects to this story is that Melissa's mother
Danna who is waiting for her grandchild to be born and is expecting the new child uh into her life in just a few
days um she meets her grandson for the first time at the funeral she holds his hand because her daughter can't um you
can't help but to sort of fight back tears and imagine the pain that she is feeling yeah which I am yeah I have a
baby so every time I think about this I I still get emotional um yeah Deanna wanted to see her daughter and her
grandson Barrett who remember was a baby about to come out into the world and Di
carries around a picture with her in the picture is Barrett and she's holding Barrett's hand Di and she keeps that in
her wallet and carries it around and to see the picture just sort of makes your heart stop for a minute you realize
what this family has lost she's lost her own daughter her grandson her daughter's
lost a child she never got to meet I mean it it's it's horrific in every way and for me seeing that photo is just
something I'll never [Music] forget welcome back to postmortem so investigators interviewed Ploy Twice
first on the evening of the murder and then 9 months later clips from both of those interviews were actually shown
during the hour but both went on for much longer obviously than you can ever show in in an episode uh the second
interview lasted full seven hours but what was his demeanor like during those interviews well he willingly agreed to
those interviews and there was no lawyer present he didn't even hire a lawyer until later 7 hours sounds like a long
time if if there was talking going on they would ask a question and often he either didn't answer or there'd
be two minutes before he would answer so most of the seven hours were the investigators asking questions trying to
get him to talk and him saying very little and I think too what's striking or what might strike a jury is not once
is he emotional m I think you know juries humans like to watch behavior and behavior as his
lawyers would put out doesn't mean guil or innocence no matter what it is but it's hard to tell jury that absolutely
the defense says for as long as we've known him that's how he is when we talk to him but the investigators say you
know we were accusing him of some pretty horrendous things and most people would
say enough leave me alone how dare you and he was very calm and not saying much I
think for me what strikes me the most is neither of his interviews did he ever say I didn't kill Melissa and her baby
and I would think if if you are in fact innocent you would probably say that absolutely but even sort of one of the
clips that is in the episode where they say to him Melissa is is dead and I don't know exactly the phrasing that
they used but he's like oh and I thought isn't like the first impulse to be like
what happened and again the defense looks at it and says well look he didn't get rattled so interesting um so another
kind of interesting component of this hour has to do with the fire chief right his boss uh fire chief Rob Schultz he
agreed to wear a wire and confront uh py about the night of the murder and initially fire chief Rob ads says that
he said no and I kind of understood why cuz I thought you know you're the leader
of these group of men and women they have to trust you to go to you and this is kind of a betrayal of that trust for
a really good reason a murder investigation but still I could understand why he would waffle on it a
little bit and you could see the pain in his face when Nikki spoke to him about this you know where he's like I don't
readily talk about I'm not proud that I did this but there is a grieving family out there looking for answers and in the
end he didn't have to wear like they put something on his phone and the desk but
he's a wonderfully thoughtful man who cares about his firehouse and you you can sense how troubled he is by all of
this and when he first got the call that Matthew P was being investigated for the
murder of you he didn't even know about Melissa had never heard the name of Melissa she didn't know there was a baby
but when he was told all of this and that Matthew was being investig he couldn't believe it he was like no no
way not not the Matthew that I know like he knows him he's known him for years uh
but he said I think the moment for him where he thought wait maybe something you know maybe Matthew is involved is
that he Matthew had taken off that day from work and I think for him that was the moment where things started to fall
into place and it wasn't just that it couldn't be Matthew to Chief Schultz the concept of a firefighter someone who
saves lives who helps people doing he was like it couldn't be any of my guys because that's not what we do um again
Matthew willingly came in and I think some of it was gee am I ever going to get my job back that maybe that might
have been part of the lore and chief Schultz was like look I will help you deal with this like if you tell me I can
go with you to the police you can call me at 2 in the morning Rob Schulz thought if he could appeal to him on
that way but he really he just he wouldn't give anything yeah didn't say anything what I really got from the fire
chief was that he not only felt a little uncomfortable doing this but also he was
questioning himself a little bit I know this guy what did I miss which I think we see often in many of these 48 hours
cases Chief Schultz was is pure good yeah get and I think he wants to think that of everyone in his life and his
firefighters and his world has been I mean his world will never be the same okay let's talk a bit about the trial
now what was P's main defense at the trial well there there were two things that the defense found inadequate an
inadequate investigation that maybe to question other old boyfriends or other people and
then that the fire itself was not investigated well enough right and the person that the defense mentioned in
their closing argument was Gus Melissa's Dad saying you never looked at G you never questioned him he was at the
grocery store buying groceries for Thanksgiving when he got the call about the fire like why didn't you verify that
he wasn't at the house earlier and and they were making that point in fact I want to play a p of our interview with
defense attorney John cup that was not in the show where he explained just why he made this
argument our job is to point out things that give a jury doubt the the detectives involved in this case should
have taken steps to determine where someone like Gus Lish or other people in the neighborhood they should have
determined where those people were or could have been at the time of this you know alleged crime but they didn't do
any of that and here's another unaired clip from Gus Lish reacting to the argument uh during his victim impact
statement and not only do I have Liss and Barrett taken from me they want to accuse me of killing them how heartless
he have to be be able to to to do this to a grieving parent this was insult to injury I don't believe that the defense
truly thinks Gus had anything to do with it they were using Gus as a concrete example
of here's a timeline and you didn't even check that but to Gus obviously as he said it's like insult upon injury it's a
bold move I think on the defense part and I I asked the lawyers you is there a shred of evidence that Gus had anything
to do with Melissa's murder with the fire anything and they said no so it was you know but as defense lawyers as they
do were just trying to create some sort of doubt and that was one of the ways they they
did it right and I think they they chose Gus because he gets the call at the supermarket and that could have been
something very easy call the supermarket see if he was really there it's his house and they didn't do it but the
prosecutor said if there were other people worth looking at investigators would have so that's why
to them it wasn't tunnel Vision they looked at who they needed to to look at you know hearing Gus refer to that in
his victim statement was powerful I remember I think we even looked at each other like G and then also we sat down
with Gus after that day and he had such raw emotion you know I feel like dad sometimes try to be really tough and he
just it was so sad and so heartbreaking Melissa had moved in her parents were were divorced she had moved in with Gus
into their child at home because she had to stop work as the baby was coming and
Gus in the interview said to Nikki you know he was looking forward to like almost raising this child sure move into
my house I'll give you some some help clearly they were so close she's living with him he's supporting her there's a
room in his house ready for a baby with diapers and teddy bears and he's lost it
all and his house right you reveal and we talked about this earlier um in the hour that Melissa's baby was going to be
named Barrett what's the story behind that name it's a sweet story it's a great name I love the name according to
her family Melissa never told anyone the name but they really wanted to try to figure it out they knew that she liked
double letters they knew it was a boy and she was calling the baby little bear so after she passed they were able to
see her internet searches and one of them was what does the name Barrett mean so they decided to go with that name and
coincidentally one of the meanings of the name Barrett is is bare strength oh which is sweet so that's the name that
he was given that's the name that's on his Tombstone with his mom I mean if there's anything that I get from this is
that this really did not have to happen if the theory is true that he just didn't want to be a dad he didn't have
to be she was fine without him um and it sounds like she was a Powerhouse she would have been an amazing mother but
you did very well at bringing her to life um so another excellent hour uh thank you so much guys thank you thank
you yeah she sounds like she was an incredible woman yeah I would have been a great mom indeed
indeed if you like the series please rate and review uh 48 Hours on Apple podcast and follow 48 Hours wherever you
get your podcast you can also listen at free on Amazon music wry plus and the wry app or with a 48 Hours Plus
subscription on Apple podcast thank you so much for listening

A woman involved with a firefighter is found dead in her burning home.

Watch "The Firefighter's Secret" and then catch up with CBS News correspondent Nikki Battiste and "48 Hours" producer Ruth Chenetz on "Post Mortem" as they discuss the case of Melissa Lamesch, who was found dead in her burning home the day before Thanksgiving in 2020. Melissa was nine months pregnant and had been involved with a firefighter. The team discusses the relationship between the two, the defense’s attempt to cast doubt on the investigation, and the touching story of how Melissa's family discovered the name she had chosen for her soon-to-be-born baby boy.

00:00 The Firefighter's Secret 40:58 Listen to a post-mortem on the episode

Listen to "Post Mortem" wherever you get your podcasts: https://apple.co/4fXqgWG

Crime. Social justice. Impact. "48 Hours" investigates the most intriguing crime and justice cases that touch on all areas of the human experience including greed and passion. "48 Hours," which premiered in 1988, has developed a rich history of original reporting and impact journalism that has helped exonerate wrongly convicted people, caused cold cases to be reopened and solved, and along the way changed lives.

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Brief Summary

Melissa Lish was murdered before giving birth; her ex, Matthew Ploy, was convicted of her murder and arson.

Key points

A Tragic Call. On November 25th, 2020, a frantic call reveals a devastating fire and uncertainty about Melissa's fate.
The Investigation Begins. As investigators delve into the fire's cause, they uncover troubling evidence about Melissa's death.
Uncovering the Truth. The investigation reveals that Melissa was murdered, leading to a deeper look into Matthew Ploy's involvement.
A Grieving Family. Melissa's family struggles with their profound grief and suspicion towards Matthew Ploy.
The Waiting Game. The Lish family faces excruciating delays in the investigation, seeking justice for Melissa.
Matthew Ploy Arrested for Murder. Matthew Ploy was arrested on charges including murder and arson after a lengthy investigation.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

We help people, we don't hurt.

A firefighter's disbelief regarding a colleague's involvement in a murder.

4:27WatchFeb 21, 2025

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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