I was glad she didn't get hurt. He was formally charged in both cases with second-degree murder while armed. At home he'd dress as a Marine and putter around the apartment, playing the role for no audience but himself. The city was classifying more than 200 fires per year as acts of arson as far back as the early '90s, compared with about a third of that number today.After he bought a used Toyota in 2001, Sweatt started to venture beyond Southeast. They wouldn't learn for another year-and-a-half that the man behind the wheel was Sweatt, gleefully taunting them.On Feb. 6, 2004, Sweatt ventured to the Alexandria section of Fairfax County and set a fire at an apartment building. 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[1], On Thursday, August 4, 2005, two fatal arson cases in the District of Columbia were closed with the arrest of 50-year-old Thomas Sweatt of the 500 blocks in Lebaum Street SE. Years later, Sweatt told City Paper that after his chance encounter with Picott on the street, he decided he liked him; he later confessed to fantasizing about his victims being caught in the flames. On the surface there appeared to be no rationale at all, which is partly why his case was so difficult to break. Even during visits they pretend also I know because its all the expression on their faces that tells me so, and even on the phone. Then on Valentine's Day, he lit one of his devices on the stairwell of an apartment building on Blair Road just over the District line in Montgomery County, where investigators had never followed him. boston real estate market report. "Sweatt answered with a question of his own: "Why would I set those beautiful homes on fire when I'm trying to become a homeowner myself? We felt an obligation to the victims, said Scott Fulkerson, who with his partner led the arson investigation for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and was explaining why it was important to get closure even if it meant forgoing additional charges. I parked exactly in front of this house and watched -- when firetrucks came I moved around and just watched afar off. He had only just begun to confess to his crimes. "It was his time to finally be honest with himself and recognize who he was," says Fulkerson. Physical objects themselves had a way of stirring his feelings, sometimes more than people. And because agents went to the stores daily to track which bags had been used, they would be able to go to the video to see which customer had purchased the bag from the fire.On Dec. 5, 2004, a strange clue turned up a block away from the scene of an Arlington house fire: a Marine Corps cap and dress pants. He sped there in his own car. He was known as one of the better KFC cooks in the metro area.That fact didn't impress many people, but it meant a lot to Sweatt. His passions include fishing, crabbing, and traveling. Thomas Sweatt, 50, a fast food store manager from the District . says Daley.There were different theories on Sweatt's travels. There's no more guessing. Sections of this page. . We had to give him an opportunity to tell his story. At the time, he volunteered on the canteen, supplying firefighters with water, coffee and food at large fires. As the last ones walked out, Maggiolo said, the cornice collapsed, engulfing them in dust and debris. On the front porch the man stood in nothing but his underwear.I was glad to see him again and wanted to help but the firetrucks were coming, Sweatt would write.The man had escaped through a window -- but not before suffering asphyxia from the smoke as well as first-, second-, and third-degree burns over 60 percent of his body. "There was no model for this," Daley says. Behind the mask of this crazy, perverted, demented, killer serial arsonist is Thomas Sweatt, an African American homosexual loner in his late fifties who worked at various fast-food joints throughout his lifetime and turned Washington, DC, upside down into a living hell. Then when darkness fall it was the other person living inside of meOnce Sweatt moved to Lebaum Street, the neighborhood started burning. People always (including family) said you work at a "chicken joint" -- that ain't no real job and it use to hurt my feelings because it required so much of my time.KFC had benefits for salaried employees only. He sometimes lingered at the scenes of fires he'd set himself, capturing footage with his camera. I sat there a long time trying to get my nerves together because this was a huge house and wasn't quiet sure it would burn. In 1989, when walking home from work, Sweatt stumbled upon a man he found attractive, so he followed him home. Thomas Sweatt died at age 66 years old on January 21, 1995. We had to say, Look, weve been waiting to see you. The gate was closed and a placard warned against trespassing.The family never returned to the house after it burned. Sweatt liked him immediately. His shoes were a orange brown colors but military style. You'd think we were exhausted, but he looked worse. "It's Thomas Sweatt," she said. Ave + Minnesota Ave. Firefighter Jonathan Riffe interviewed an imprisoned arsonist over three years for his book "Thomas Sweatt: Inside the Mind of D.C.'s Most Notorious Arsonist . He is currently imprisoned at United . Shortly before 5 one morning in November 2003, he lit a gallon jug of gasoline on fire at a house in Alexandria. LOW HIGH. In an industry with an astronomical turnover rate -- the average fast-food worker quits or gets fired within four months -- Sweatt would devote a rather astonishing 12 years to the same KFC location, most of it spent hovering over the grill and grease fryers and struggling to keep the kitchen clean.New employees at the KFC found a cook manning an immaculate station. There was just one stop to make -- at the gas station, where he topped off an empty 2-liter soda bottle with gasoline, then threw it into his bag along with a towel.He parked near Quincy Place and got out of the car with his bag. Thomas A. Sweatt is a convicted serial arsonist. I never probably will learn the reason whyI trusted others judgements and decisions over mine. . His firesetting was based on convenience, and when it came to finding a wick, nothing was more convenient than a swatch from his own clothes. I was 50 years old with about 15 years service. A car captured on video leaving the scene of a fire had been traced back to a man who lived right around the corner from the Circle 7 store on Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue. Dozens of authors, TV producers, and movie producers tried to contact Thomas in prison but were all unsuccessful. The ATF and local law enforcement launched what would become an exhausting, nearly two-year manhunt for the arsonist.To learn more about how these fires unfolded, agents re-created models of the arsonist's device with plastic jugs and cloth wicks, performing staged burns at the lab and out in the field on a home slated for demolition. Neighbors gathered in front of the house as officials sorted the wreckage, and they broke into sobs when the body was found inside the house around dawn. Fulkerson told the cook he was looking for help in the serial arson case. Though his unchecked terror doesn't speak well for D.C.'s arson investigators, they had their hands full. That's so sad.Those demons are still in me. But there was a bike on the porch that attracted me to that house, plus the location, very quiet and trees on the other side so it was easy to escape -- the media had this one all wrong -- there was no man riding a bike past -- for my car was only 3 houses down. Sometimes he would film them from his car and later masturbate to the videos. Brother of Benjamin Sweatt; William Tallie Sweatt; David Sweatt and Nicolas Tally Sweatt. Vacant-building fires, home fires, store fires. The wick burned plastic for more than 20 minutes and after the fire consumed the container, gas fumes escaped and caught fire. Sweatt's was the KFC you stopped at if you were getting out of town on Route 50 East.Dave I lived one day at a time. Everything he did was so neat -- he knew where everything was.He'd bring in coffee and doughnuts for everyone in the morning. They put that in the paper and just dropped the investigation. He never wore the uniform outside.I kinda like the old recruiter station in Silver Springs, Md because in the back of the office was a bathroom window where I could actually see inside the place, he wrote. Sweatts attorney with the Federal Public Defenders Office did not return several calls seeking comment. The arsonist apparently hoped to kill or at least terrify the people inside.By mid-July 2003, investigators were looking at about two dozen recent fires, including one that killed an 86-year-old Washington woman. Each fire was like doing the first time and I'd always take deep breaths and ask the Lord to forgive me for what I'm about to doEach one was special in its own way.***In the spring of 2003, Sweatt paid a price for his jurisdiction-hopping. The rest of the letters had been destroyed in the fire.The remnants of a fire set days later let them piece together the entire line: "MADE IN CHINA FOR CORNELIUS SHOPPING BAG COMPANY," a bag outfit in Richmond. I regret this fire because it was an elder man reside there. Why? That report suggested recklessness on the Picotts' part, which never sat well with Rodney. Barring a transfer, Sweatt will spend the rest of his life there.He still thinks often of fire, and his mind tends to drift back to old blazes, stirring feelings of exhilaration and shame. Taking into account various assets, Thomas's net worth is greater than $50,000 - $99,999; and makes between $60 - 69,999 a year. I'll always remember this house. In a 2007 article, Sweatt told Washington City Paper that he had been walking home from his job that January day and passed Picott walking in the other direction. He wasn't the type to knock on a neighbor's door or start up a sidewalk conversation; instead, he enjoyed tending to his building's property, mowing the front lawn and clearing trash from the alley and sidewalk. 0 Add Rating Anonymously. '"About a year ago, a D.C.-area detective had reached out to Rodney. Sweatt, he says, came off as the one guy who really had his life in order. I look for answers to many questions but only left with more question marks. So from 1993-2005) I was promoted from Cook to allstar, to Shif Supervisor, Assistant Manger, Unit manager. Filmography. I wanted to meet him (but that would only happen thru fire. He is the author of "Thomas Sweatt: Inside the Mind of D.C.'s Most Notorious Arsonist," was a contributing author in the book, "Pass It On: The Second Alarm" and contributing author in the book, "90 Days of Encouagement 3: Stretching Your Faith." Add Thomas' birthday or the date he died to see a list of historic events that occurred during Thomas' lifetime. "It came about by slamming your head against the wall wondering what the hell do we do next. As a stipulation of any plea agreement that might be offered, the government insisted that investigators be able to interview Sweatt about his motives. ***Sweatt was arrested the morning of April 27, 2005, as he left a regional meeting for KFC employees held in District Heights.He maintained his innocence for an hour-and-a-half of questioning before breaking down and admitting to the fires. It's dated the same day as the fire, even though much of the house was destroyed. "The official fire report on the Picott blaze was dubious on its face. He wore a size 12 shoes. Love People. That's not the way that fire started. SWEATT---Cemetery surveyed August 3, 2001. Never before had a detective questioned Sweatt about any of them.After sentencing, Sweatt was quickly sent to the United States Penitentiary at Terre Haute, the famously rough prison where Timothy McVeigh was put to death. The lab determined that DNA from the pants matched the DNA found at the other fire scenes. After he agreed to complete a court-ordered diversion program, the government dropped its case). That's all I wanted to do was make tapes and come home and watched them.He was aroused by the snug blue uniforms and caps of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. For 25 years, serial arsonist Thomas Sweatt terrorized neighborhoods throughout the Washington D.C. metropolitan area. I always was glad to see darkness fall so that I could sneak outside and go behind the house where my fathers bedroom and peep thru the window only to see him lying on the bed reading the paper. Through years of research and combing through several hundred letters written by Tom, Jonathan Riffe has put . I don't look to have a romantic relationship as a normal human being would -- love, roses + red wine sort of thing. Sweatt admitted to setting that fire and killing Bessie Mae Duncan in a letter to me late last year. Was it just another voyeuristic impulse he was acting on? In 2005, Thomas Sweatt was arrested and eventually confessed to over 340 arson-set fires that killed 4 people. 4 talking about this. So you see, it doesn't always had to be the type of house but the cars + trucks parked in the driveway can become a phantasy. For all of us independent news organizations, its no exception. It's too stressful + I'd have a heart attack. "It's not like he's walking around," he said. Today is Thomas Sweatt's 66th birthday. 71' Titans Inducted into ACPS Hall of Fame 2020. Arsonist apologizes for crimes but does not say why. They were sent out into the streets on needle-in-the-haystack stakeouts that lasted all night long, eventually listening to as many as five different police and fire radios to cover all the jurisdictions Sweatt was hitting. Paskelbta 2022-06-04 Autorius hacker wallpaper 4k ultra hd His motivations fascinated them. The two girls emerged from the back of the house, each badly burned. (Investigators have confirmed assigning agents at that location. Some investigators believed he changed his game because he knew they'd gotten close to him, perhaps at the Otis Street fire, where he may have spotted agents as he was fleeing. (Under Sweatt's proffer with the government, investigators have been gagged from publicly discussing Sweatt's motives or certain fires he may have admitted to during questioning. A few days later I received a brief, cordial note, in careful handwriting, that began, I was pleased to get your letter and hope this could be the beginning of something good. In an interview, Fulkerson said investigators reexamined photos from the Quincy Place fire after Sweatt told them he had started it. I told him that I was a reporter who had written about his fires in early 2004, when he was still at large, and that I wanted to learn about his life as a firesetter. The Arrest and Adjudication. I thought for sure we had lost some firefighters, Maggiolo recalled. In 2005, Thomas Sweatt was arrested and eventually confessed to more than 340 arson-set fires that killed four people. Jonathan lives in Maryland with his wife, Carrie and sons, Shepard & Weston. The beginning years (1993-) were bad because I had no real reason to excel fast -- I just was content where + what I was doing People saw the good in my work and that's how I climbed up the cooperal ladder (so to speak). And in the strangest way, he was. ***It's really something to think about knowing that as a child one grows up to be known as a serial arsonist. 0 Reputation Score Range. When Thomas Jefferson Sweatt was born on 18 October 1842, in Canaan, Grafton, New Hampshire, United States, his father, Rev John Sweatt, was 35 and his mother, Susan Putney, was 39. But that same night I went cruising up Geogia Ave and picked up this young guy named Tyrone.We became best of friends until I became obsessed with him which drove me to set his house afire (actually his aunts house on Peabody + 3rd -- She was slightly injured and the house was damaged just the basement where he lived. When at last he was arrested in 2005, he confessed to over 340 arson-set fires that claimed the lives of 4 people. In 2003, the Washington, DC area experienced 14 suspiciously similar incendiary house fires. None died, but several were hurt. He briefly considered getting out of his car to save the boy, but the fire engine was already barreling toward the blaze. )For Sweatt, different fires grew out of different feelings -- many out of a sense of powerlessness, others out of spite, some even out of love -- but more than anything else, his decades-long rampage was about sexual fantasy:Why did I set the fires when I set them? But Sweatt has repeatedly boasted of his crimes in letters to a Washington City Paper reporter, and his case was showcased on television true-crime shows and in a book. Once it did, the fire would reach the wood or aluminum siding. Or should I say, just easy to be persuaded?I have trouble explaining why I do certain things. People who knew him casually would have laughed at the thought, but it actually made sense. He had emotional reactions to the newscasts, lashing out at residents who told reporters offhandedly that the arsonist needed mental help. He found himself walking faster and faster toward home, excited, telling himself he'd see the man at least one more time.But the only way would be thru fire, Sweatt would later write.At home Sweatt stripped off his Roy Rogers uniform and threw on casual clothes. Sweatt hadn't been considered a suspect in that fire until investigators discovered a news clip about the blaze in his apartment.One of Sweatt's only requests was to meet Blackwell, the task force spokesman who had addressed Sweatt through the media. The police chief identified Sweatt as the prime suspect, although no charges have been filed, and none may ever be, given the age of the case and the hurdles of proving that the clues were not derived from the plea talks in 2005. Over time, firesetting, like sex, can grow old within its conventions. They were surprised by what they found. He worked at the KFC at the corner of New York Avenue and Bladensburg Road in Northeast, where he'd come on board in 1993. Aside from the misspelled name, the details in the Post report matched perfectly with Sweatt's telling: An early- morning fire in the winter of 1984n85, a rowhouse just off Florida Avenue NW, a 30-something man in his underwear on the front porch, a young man shouting from the basement, and a wife who never made it outside. [4], Last edited on 16 November 2022, at 13:11, "Letters From an Arsonist: Thomas Sweatt", "Suspect Formally Charged in Two Arson Deaths", "Why Thomas Sweatt Set Washington on Fire Thomas Sweatt torched hundreds of houses and cars in the nation's capitol to satisfy his sexual fetishes and power fantasies. Every reader contribution, no matter the amount, makes a difference in allowing our newsroom to bring you the stories that matter, at a time when being informed is more important than ever. One of the most prolific arsonists in American history, Sweatt set over 350 fires in and around Washington, D.C., most of which occurred in 2003 and 2004. (Rodney knew this as well as Sweatt did, since he visited the vacant house whenever he was in D.C.) And there was another detail that Sweatt offered independent of the Post report -- the funeral for Bessie Mae Duncan, which Sweatt claimed was at McGuire Funeral Service on Georgia Avenue, near the Maryland line. He apologized to the families of the victims, telling them, I share your hurt, and asking, for those who cant forgive him, that God replace the hate with understanding that time will heal.. His car was destroyed along another sexy cars parked beside it as well as the top of the wall of the liquor store.That Mustang belonged to Wade Powell, a Metro instructor who still works out of the bus depot. The gasoline itself acted as a coolant, letting the device burn as slow and steady as a kerosene lamp. If that man was their firesetter, investigators imagined he was lonesome, anxiety-ridden, and hobbled by a deep sense of failure. "There's a learning curve like anything else," says Scott Fulkerson, an agent with ATF who served as one of the lead investigators on the case. That being said, we might have missed a few people here and there. ***How intoxicating that must have been for Sweatt, to manipulate investigators like that. There were dozens of 7-Elevens and scores of other corner stores in the area, but a spate of four fires within a week of one another in late 2004 helped them narrow it down considerably. ***If Sweatt could have been anything other than a fry cook, he would have been a Marine. He believed in old-fashioned concepts like honor and heroism; all his life he felt a desperate need to belong somewhere; and he appreciated order and cleanliness. Fame Meter (0/100) Has their own Wikipedia Page. Last Reviewed September 22, 2016. )I liked the attention from setting fires; the Blue + red lights flashing from the firetrucks + police cars, the rushing of firefighters hooking up the hoses to put out the flames and people gathered to watch.They were in arms length to arrest me. His fantasies now are the same as they were on the outside, the only difference being that fire now lies beyond his reach. The Martin Luther King Jr. Day service at St. James A.M.E. Zion Church in Allentown marked a day of celebration and reflection. Sweatt told Blackwell he was "sorry for all the headaches." Duncan died in the fire, and Picott died weeks later at a hospital. February 17, 2023. They wanted to seize the rare opportunity to profile the mind of an extraordinary firesetter. This was a good fire and still see the funky old cars parked on the side.Lastly, the house 1315 Otis St N.E. I wonder if he still have thoseYou asked were there any special relationships while living on Lebaum St? "We started to think, 'What if we we're missing fires?'" He is affiliated with medical facilities such as Ascension St. Vincent Salem and . It could be 21 minutes before the jug's plastic melted, allowing the gasoline and its accompanying vapors to spread across the porch. 2022-06-22; what do these words have in common solver . That feeling may have stemmed from the minor brushes he'd had with them in the past. ***In June 2003, a raging two-alarm fire on Evarts Street NE claimed the life of 86-year-old Lou Edna Jones. He had just returned to the station with the beverage truck when the Quincy Place fire call came out. What they had was DNA -- not a suspect. He would go on to torch Washington steadily for another 20 years, and he would claim more lives than Duncan's before his arrest in April 2005. Sweatt set more than 350 fires over 25 years in Washington D.C., taking at least . Thomas A. Sweatt is a convicted serial arsonist. View More. ***My whole life has been a phantasy. There were a few "one night stands" sort-to-speak but nothing to hold on too. DNA evidence led to the arrest Wednesday of a serial arson suspect wanted in connection with more than 40 fires since March 8, 2003. Marion Indiana native, Thomas O. Sweatt, age 78, went home to be with the Lord on March 10, 2022. After a brief exchange, the man played like he was lost and walked off. )I was unable to locate a Roy Picott, but I found a Rodney Picott, 40, and his sister, Cheryl Legros (formerly Cheryl Picott), 41, living near Nyack, N.Y.Both of them had been in the house during the fire.When I spoke on the phone with Rodney, he seemed unsettled by the fact that a reporter had questions about a 22-year-old fire. Some of the burned cars would remain at the spot for many days and I'd drive back that night and just stare and smell the smoke. "Sometimes when we opened up in the morning, the fire department would already be here," Singh says.With the exception of home improvement, Sweatt's firesetting and voyeurism were the only activities that brought him any happiness.
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