HUNT FOR THE SERIAL ARSONIST (VHS vers.), PBS, 1995
This program is available in both VHS and DVD formats.
Fires were breaking out all over greater Los Angeles. Suspicious fires. From the mid-I980s to the early 1990s, dozens of retail businesses were bursting into flames.
With precious few clues to go on, authorities piece together a case based on a malfunctioning incendiary device, a smudged fingerprint a peculiar pattern of outbreaks and the strangest development of all; an incriminating, unpublished novel sent to a literary agent.
These events net a surprising suspect. A clue: the suspect was filmed by NOVA.
As the investigation unfolds, it has all the elements of a classic detective story: the serendipitous lead, the culling of suspects, the fortuitous fingerprint, the disastrous miscalculation, the carefully orchestrated surveillance - and the artfully dodged surveillance - and the inevitable bizarre twist.
60 minutes, narrated, VHS version, ISBN: 1-884738-77-X, VH7613 / $24.95
RELATED MATERIAL:
same program in DVD format
video on same subject: Fire Lover
Arson / Fire Investigation Videos
Police / Criminal Justice Videos