Narrator: in the aftermath
of a fatal fire,
One question remained...
Was it an accident,
or was it arson?
It took the physics
of a burning cigarette,
The chemical composition
of a flame,
And a computer-simulated fire
to determine how the fire
Started and who was responsible.
Narrator: for 25 years,
ed and rosalie camiolo
Lived in an affluent suburb
just outside of philadelphia.
Ed was a retired government
worker.
Rosalie worked
in the computer industry.
Their only child, paul,
a 31-year-old computer
Programmer, lived upstairs.
He took care of his parents
since they had difficulty
Getting around.
It's not that they were
bedridden or complete invalids.
But they certainly weren't
athletic and able to
Respond, in my opinion,
to an emergency situation.
Narrator: just before dawn,
in september of 1996,
Paul made an emergency call
to the fire department.
911, What is your emergency?
We have a fire in our living
room.
It's getting really bad.
Get out of the house.
The fire department's
coming out.
Narrator: when police
arrived, they found paul
On the front lawn, getting
dressed.
Paul said his mother and father
had gotten out through the back
Door.
When the officer went
to the backyard to check,
There was an expl*si*n.
She found rosalie on
the back porch, severely burned
And barely conscious.
But there was no sign
of her 81-year-old husband, ed.
Firefighters later found him
inside.
He had been unable to escape.
The victim that was located
was in a rear bathroom,
And he was in cardiac arrest
at that time.
Narrator: ed camiolo
was pronounced dead
At the hospital.
Rosalie died, too,
a result of smoke inhalation.
How horrible it must've been
for my uncle, what he went
Through to be burned...
And my aunt.
How horrible it must've been
for her.
Narrator: the firemen
at the scene didn't see
Anything suspicious.
It was a general consensus
that the fire was accidental in
Nature and most probably
the result of the careless
Handling of smoking materials,
either a cigarette or a match
To light the cigarettes.
Narrator: paul camiolo
told investigators
His mother was a chain smoker
and that she probably started
The fire accidentally.
Paul said he was asleep upstairs
when he heard his father
Calling him.
He said there was a small fire
on the sofa, which his mother
Was trying to put out.
He ran to the kitchen,
got a pitcher of water,
And threw it on the sofa.
But it made the fire worse.
He told his parents
to go out the back door.
He called 911,
then he went out the front door
To his car.
He was in his underwear,
I believe at the time.
Had his car parked out in front
and had a gym bag in his car,
And he felt he could get
some shorts or clothes
To put on.
What doesn't make sense
to me was paul's story.
To this day, I have problems
with what he says happened.
Narrator: this incident
raised eyebrows
Among investigators.
He went in an entirely
different direction.
I mean, I think common sense
dictates that you're gonna
Make sure your folks
get out of the house.
And the way to make sure
that your parents get out
Of the house is to follow them
out of the house.
Narrator: paul camiolo
admitted his behavior was a
Mistake, but said he was dazed
and confused.
You know, I remember feeling
guilty about it because I was
The able-bodied one
and I didn't get them out.
Narrator: but when
a suspicious substance
Was found on the living room
floor, all eyes turned once
Again to paul camiolo.
Narrator: ed and rose
camiolo were laid to rest
In the family plot just a few
miles from their home.
The camiolos' lives before the
fire had not been easy.
Their son paul
was their primary caregiver.
You know, he did have
that responsibility
To help assist his parents.
He would do the grocery shopping
for them.
If they wanted something
from a department store,
A lot of times, he would go
to the mall and buy it and bring
It home.
Narrator: investigators
wondered whether paul may have
Had something to do
with setting the fire.
There was money there
in the form of insurance money.
And that, in and of itself,
was a powerful motive.
I believe he received about
$200,000 in insurance benefits.
A second motive
that some of the investigators
Believed existed
was that paul camiolo was tired
Of caring for his infirmed
parents.
Narrator: fire investigators
searched through the rubble
And found something
very suspicious.
In the center of the room,
there was a pattern
That looked like perhaps
it might have been
Associated with a liquid pour --
what they refer to it
When someone might've poured
an accelerant.
Narrator: to see
if an accelerant was used,
Investigators removed samples of
the carpeting, the padding,
And the hardwood floor.
The samples were sealed
in paint cans to prevent any
Gases from escaping and sent to
the forensic lab.
Gas chromatography can identify
the molecular components
Of the samples,
and the results showed
There was evidence
of gasoline on the wood floor.
And the single biggest piece
of evidence for them to conclude
This was an arson fire
was the finding of gasoline
In the hardwood floor.
Because how else would you
explain gasoline in a living
Room?
When the test results
come back, it changes
From "I don't know"
to "wow, we have a --
We have an accelerant here.
This must be an arson."
And that changes people's
opinions.
Narrator: to prosecutors,
the presence of gasoline meant
m*rder.
Based on this evidence,
prosecutors believed
That paul poured gasoline
on the living room floor
While his parents were upstairs
asleep.
He then set the room on fire
and called the fire department.
The heat and smoke made it
impossible for paul's parents
To make it out of the house
alive.
Paul strongly denied these
charges.
My mother and father
knew the truth,
And god knows the truth,
and that's all that mattered
To me.
Narrator: paul camiolo
was arrested and charged
With two counts
of first-degree m*rder.
His request for bail was denied.
I had no problem justifying
arguing for the death penalty.
I mean, I just -- I can't think
of anything more vile
Than k*lling the very people
that brought you into this
World.
They were saying I tried
to burn them to death, you know?
That's --
that's just, you know, horrible
Beyond words.
Narrator: the press
depicted him
As a cold-blooded k*ller.
Yet, his family stood firmly
behind him.
Anybody who knew paul, knew
he couldn't do anything like
That.
He loved his parents very much.
And they were a very devoted
family.
That boy was good
to his parents.
We were all there
to support him,
And we all went to the hearings,
and several of us
Visited him on a regular basis.
We all believed
that he was innocent.
Narrator: as the trial
approached, paul camiolo
And his defense team
looked for some way to prove
That the fire was an accident.
I couldn't imagine
how the gasoline got in there.
But there had to be
another explanation as to why
Gasoline was in that floor.
Narrator: the firemen
responding to the camiolos'
House fire were all volunteers.
But one of them had an unusual
background.
Steve avato was also an agent
with the bureau of alcohol,
Tobacco, and firearms.
He had been a philadelphia
policeman prior to going
To the A*F.
So he was not someone
just out of the academy.
He had been someone involved
in police work
For a number of years.
Narrator: the A*F took
no part in this investigation.
But personally, avato was
dumbfounded when he learned
Paul camiolo had been charged
with arson.
To him, it just didn't make
sense.
That finding shocked me.
I hadn't anticipated that.
It seemed very difficult
to explain how the gasoline
Would be in hardwood floor
but not in the carpeting
And padding above it,
if a significant volume
Of gasoline was poured.
Narrator: and avato wasn't
the least bit suspicious
Of paul's behavior
on the night of the fire.
It's not unusual
for people in a fire
To exit a building
through the way that they're
Most comfortable exiting.
If they typically come and go
through the front door,
No matter where they are
in the house, they'll exit
Through the front door.
Narrator: avato told local
investigators that he believed
The fire was accidental, and he
was roundly dismissed.
They portrayed him in the
media that he was, you know,
An apprentice fire investigator
that really was not experienced
And really didn't have
the qualifications to be
Offering opinions.
He was treated like dirt
by the locals and by the
Attorneys involved in this case.
When the defense team learned
about steve avato's opinion
That the fire was an accident,
they conducted
Their own investigation
and hired dr. Rick roby,
An expert on the science
of fires.
What makes it difficult is,
fires burn up
A lot of the evidence.
Narrator: roby studies fires
while they're burning.
To do this, he sets fires
like this one in model rooms.
Fires progress differently
depending on how they're set,
The size of the room, air flow,
and hundreds of other
Considerations.
All of this data is then entered
into a computer.
It's a fully 3-d fire
modeling software that actually
Allows you to model the
development and growth of a fire
In a building.
Narrator: for this
assignment, roby and his staff
Built a virtual reality
replica of the camiolo home.
Then they entered all known
information about the fire
Into the computer.
Roby conservatively estimated
that it would take at least
One gallon of gasoline
to create a pour pattern
The size of the one
found in the living room.
Five or six minutes
after paul camiolo called
The fire department,
the outside window exploded.
The expl*si*n was the result of
what is called flashover.
When flashover occurs,
temperatures in the room
Get so high that items ignite
even without coming into contact
With the flame...
As you can see here.
And, in fact, unfortunately,
there are firefighters k*lled
Every year
by having been caught
In flashover conditions
because it happens so rapidly.
Sometimes it's very difficult
to escape from those conditions.
Narrator: after roby entered
this information
Into his computer program,
he lit a virtual match.
Within 30 seconds,
hot gas fills the room.
Within one minute,
smoke and gas spread
Up the stairs
to the second floor.
And three minutes
after ignition,
The living room would reach
flashover,
Blowing out the window.
The entire room
becomes engulfed in flames
Because there's so much burning
and so much hot gas
That it's completely
uninhabitable.
Narrator: but the police
witnessed the window
Breaking five or six minutes
after paul called
The fire department.
To roby, this meant
that gasoline couldn't have been
Used to start the fire.
He would've had a tough time
actually getting to the front
Door without being engulfed
in flames.
That's one of the things
our model showed.
So we looked at the arson
scenario, and there was
Inconsistency after
inconsistency.
Narrator: next, roby tested
paul camiolo's story.
Paul said the fire
started by accident
With a cigarette or a match
his mother had been using.
At one minute,
the fire would be about
Two feet tall
and gathering strength.
At 2 minutes,
it would be moving across
The ceiling.
At four minutes,
temperatures and gas levels
In the room would be fatal.
At 5 1/2 minutes,
the fire reaches flashover,
And the window blows out.
This was consistent
with paul camiolo's version
Of events.
It matches up with everything
that paul camiolo was saying
And with other objective
evidence that he has nothing
To do with.
Narrator: but important
questions remained.
If the fire was an accident,
why was gasoline found
On the living room floor?
I was horrified.
It felt like
I was in my own horror film.
Narrator: defense attorney
thomas cometa strongly
Believed his client
paul camiolo was innocent,
That he never set fire
to his family's home
In order to k*ll his parents.
Facing the death penalty
for a crime that he was
Convinced and we were convinced,
first of all, that he did not
Commit,
but a crime that didn't occur,
That this was an accidental
fire.
So, yeah, there were
high stakes in this case.
There's no doubt about that.
Narrator: the reason
paul camiolo had been charged
With first-degree m*rder
was the gasoline
Found on the wood floors
in the living room.
But paul's defense team
was suspicious of this finding.
They took samples
of the carpeting,
The carpet padding,
and some newspaper,
And there was no gasoline
in any of those samples.
It was only in the hardwood
floor.
And it was just inconceivable,
how can you pour gasoline
In a family room
and not get the gas
On those other items
if that was going to be
The cause of the fire?
Narrator: so the defense team
hired john lentini, a nationally
Recognized fire expert, to find
out what happened.
Lentini retested
the samples of hardwood floor
Using atomic absorption
spectroscopy.
It's a way to measure
the concentration of metals
In a solution.
Narrator: the wood flooring
was dissolved in acid,
Then analyzed
to see how the solution
Is absorbed through the flame.
The amount of light absorbed
is proportional
To the concentration
of the element in the solution.
And what was the element
found in the solution?
Lead.
This meant that it was
leaded gasoline
On the camiolos' wood floors.
But how did this happen,
since leaded gasoline
Hadn't been sold in this country
for over 15 years?
Well, many of the poorly
constructed houses
That I've looked at
were built in the early '70s,
And they were built
by contractors
Who were cutting corners.
Narrator: flooring
contractors often used gasoline
As a thinner
so the varnish would go on
To the wooden floors
more easily.
This was cheaper than using
high-quality thinners.
No one refuted the fact that
that was a common practice,
That they did use gas
in finishing
Of the hardwood floors.
So I'm convinced
that's where that gas came from.
So that was, really,
The moment where we said,
"here's the final piece
Of the puzzle."
If this is leaded gasoline,
it all makes sense,
And it makes sense
that it would be there and why.
Narrator: forensic tests
also revealed how
The fire started.
A cigarette, dropped onto
a polyurethane sofa,
Will simply smolder.
But when a match is dropped
on the same material,
It's almost like an expl*si*n.
And tests revealed
that another aspect
Of paul's story was correct --
that when he poured water
On the fire, it got worse.
The average person
wouldn't know
That polyurethane melts,
and then when you throw water
On it, it actually flares up
like a grease fire.
Narrator: when prosecutors
heard about this, to their
Credit, they conducted their own
test.
They secured from the
manufacturer the same fabric
That was on the camiolos' sofa.
And I cut off
a 4" x 4" portion
Of this fabric,
and we dropped the match on it,
And it ignited immediately.
And at that point,
I knew that the case
Was in trouble --
serious trouble.
Narrator: and the alleged
pour pattern
On the living room floor --
many now believe
It was simply the result
of normal wear and tear.
You would expect that people
walking back and forth on the
Carpet would thin the carpet,
and therefore any heat that's
Imparted on that would pass
through that carpet area more
Quickly than in other areas.
Narrator: when all of this
overwhelming body of evidence
Came to light,
all charges against
Paul camiolo were dropped.
In this business,
you have people that,
For a certain amount of money,
will tell you anything
You want to hear.
These experts were not of that
ilk.
And, no, it wasn't tough.
It wasn't a sad day.
It was the right thing to do,
and if it's the right thing
To do, then do it.
Now I'm not saying
it was malicious
And intentional,
I'm saying that unfortunately
They had gut feelings
and years of practical
Experience that led them
to conclude this had
To be an arson fire.
So they let common perceptions
outweigh logic and science,
And, luckily,
logic and science prevailed
In this case.
Narrator: paul spent
A possible death sentence for
a crime that never happened.
There are days I can't --
I don't look at pictures
Of my mother and father
because I --
I just remember the fire.
And there are other days
that, you know,
Once you've been in jail,
you almost feel, at times,
You have a scarlet letter.
He spent 10 months in jail.
He'll never get that time back.
That was liberty
that was taken away from him
That he'll never get back.
It was a time that he should've
been grieving for the loss
Of his parents, and instead, he
was fighting for his own life.
Narrator: john lentini says
fire investigation
Still has a long way to go
before its application
Is as dependable
as other forensic sciences.
It's a matter of a profession
that is largely controlled
And dominated by hacks.
And these people didn't set out
to become hacks,
But they don't know
what they're doing.
They're making complicated
decisions about chemistry
And physics, and they never
took chemistry and physics.
Narrator: when asked
how it felt to be right
All along, not surprisingly,
steve avato had no comment.
But his colleagues spoke for
him.
His courage was later
recognized by his fellow fire
Investigators when the
international association of
Arson investigators named him
investigator of the year for
Standing up to the enormous
Peer pressure that came down on
Him when he said, "wait a
Minute, guys, I don't think
We've really got an arson here."
10x04 - Up In Smoke
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Documentary that reveals how forensic science is used to solve violent crimes, mysterious accidents, and outbreaks of illness.
Documentary that reveals how forensic science is used to solve violent crimes, mysterious accidents, and outbreaks of illness.