Arson

By day, John was a respected firefighter and arson investigator in Southern California—trusted, authoritative, and often first on the scene. By night, he was the one striking the match. Driven by a dangerous obsession with fire and a craving for recognition, John spent years igniting blazes across California, then calmly returning to investigate them. His expertise made him untouchable. He appeared on television, wrote articles about catching arsonists, and built a reputation as an authority—while leaving death and destruction in his wake. As fires multiplied during arson investigators' conferences, a few detectives began to suspect the unthinkable: the killer might be one of their own. But technology lagged, evidence slipped away, and the trail repeatedly went cold. Emboldened, John even began writing a novel about an investigator who secretly sets fires—mirroring his own crimes. What he believed was his greatest act of arrogance became his undoing. This gripping true crime exposes one of America's most prolific serial arsonists, the investigators who refused to give up, and the slow burn of justice that finally put an end to a deadly double life.