More than three
decades after investigators concluded a fire that killed a couple inside
their
Eckington rowhouse was an accident caused by a carelessly discarded cigarette,
D.C. police said Monday the deaths have now been ruled homicides.
While no arrest was
announced in the deaths of Bessie Mae Duncan, who was in her 40s,
and her
husband, Roy R. Picott, 39, authorities said they are focusing on a serial
arsonist,
Thomas Sweatt, who admitted setting a string of 45 fires in the D.C.
region and pleaded guilty in 2005.
Sweatt, now 63,
is serving a federal prison term of life with an additional 136 years.
Washington City Paper reported in 2007 that Sweatt confessed in a series of
letters
to a reporter to setting fires for years longer than covered in his
guilty plea,
including the one that killed the Eckington couple. The case was
the focus of television crime
shows on truTV, Investigation Discovery Channels
and as part of the Forensic Files series.
D.C. Police Chief
Peter Newsham said Sweatt is the prime focus of the investigation.
He has not
been charged in the deaths of Picott and Duncan, and authorities said
prosecuting a decades-old case could be difficult. Newsham said a detective in
the
homicide unit’s cold-case squad revived the inquiry that led to the manner
of death
being changed from accidental to homicide. The fire occurred Jan. 11,
1985, in a
house on Quincy Place NW, just off Florida Avenue. Duncan’s body was
found in a
second-floor bedroom; Picott escaped but died at a hospital on March
5.
...
More than three decades after investigators concluded a fire that killed a couple inside
their
Eckington rowhouse was an accident caused by a carelessly discarded cigarette,
D.C. police said Monday the deaths have now been ruled homicides.
While no arrest was
announced in the deaths of Bessie Mae Duncan, who was in her 40s,
and her
husband, Roy R. Picott, 39, authorities said they are focusing on a serial
arsonist,
Thomas Sweatt, who admitted setting a string of 45 fires in the D.C.
region and pleaded guilty in 2005.
Sweatt, now 63,
is serving a federal prison term of life with an additional 136 years.
Washington City Paper reported in 2007 that Sweatt confessed in a series of
letters
to a reporter to setting fires for years longer than covered in his
guilty plea,
including the one that killed the Eckington couple. The case was
the focus of television crime
shows on truTV, Investigation Discovery Channels
and as part of the Forensic Files series.
D.C. Police Chief
Peter Newsham said Sweatt is the prime focus of the investigation.
He has not
been charged in the deaths of Picott and Duncan, and authorities said
prosecuting a decades-old case could be difficult. Newsham said a detective in
the
homicide unit’s cold-case squad revived the inquiry that led to the manner
of death
being changed from accidental to homicide. The fire occurred Jan. 11,
1985, in a
house on Quincy Place NW, just off Florida Avenue. Duncan’s body was
found in a
second-floor bedroom; Picott escaped but died at a hospital on March
5.
...Whoa! Read this 👇@washingtonpost story about a 1985 fire in #BloomingdaleDC and then read this @wcp story from 2007: Letters From an Arsonist https://t.co/Zl3JTkI2e7 https://t.co/mx7NBVzaXL— Bloomingdame, pics of 🌞🌕🌈❄️ in #BloomingdaleDC (@bloomingdame) March 6, 2018
Belated congratulations to @jamieson - an award winning report. Can't imagine living most of your adult life not knowing the truth about a fire that killed your parents & left you with the physical/emotional scars. Letters From an Arsonist https://t.co/Zl3JTkI2e7— Bloomingdame, pics of 🌞🌕🌈❄️ in #BloomingdaleDC (@bloomingdame) March 6, 2018
No comments:
Post a Comment