Thomas Sweatt

Story

When Thomas Sweatt saw an attractive man, he would follow him home, but instead of talking to the object of his affection, Sweatt would set fire to the man’s house or car. For more than 30 years, Sweatt set hundreds of fires in the metro Washington, DC, area. Sweatt often tossed incendiary devices into police cars and then watched them burn. Each time he set a fire, he used a similar gadget—he would fill a milk jug with gasoline and plug the opening with a piece of clothing that served as a wick. The wick burned plastic for more than 20 minutes and after the fire consumed the container, gas fumes escaped and caught fire. In two different fires, elderly women were unable to escape and later died.

Arsons

Starting in 2003, Washington, D.C. and Prince George's County, Maryland became infested with a rash of arson fires. Sweatt was a fry cook and later the manager of a Washington fast food restaurant. He was linked to the fires though DNA evidence found at two scenes where a finger print, some skin cells on a wick, and a single hair all matched Sweatt's genetic profile. Sweatt was only captured after a Marine Corps security camera identified his vehicle at the scene of a car fire by a barracks; Sweatt was obsessed with the Marines, both as self-identification and as part of a sexual fascination with men in uniform, and had been rejected by the United States Navy in the 1970s. In his guilty plea, he confessed to nearly four hundred fires, several of them fatal.

Arrest and Charges

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 block of Lebaum Street, SE. He was formally charged in both cases with Second Degree Murder while Armed. The first offense occurred at approximately 4:05 am on Tuesday, February 5, 2002. Members of the Fifth District received a radio assignment for a house fire at 1208 Montello Avenue, NE. Once on the scene, officers located 93-year-old Annie Brown, of the Montello Avenue address. DC Fire and Emergency Medical Services personnel responded to the scene and transported the victim to the George Washington University Hospital, where she was admitted in serious condition. On February 14, 2002, Ms. Brown was pronounced dead. An autopsy performed by the DC Office of the Chief Medical Examiner determined the cause of death to be smoke inhalation and the manner of death to be a homicide. The second incident occurred at approximately 4:30 am on June 5, 2003. DC Fire and EMS personnel responded to 2800 Evarts Street, NE for the report of a house fire. Upon extinguishing the blaze on the first floor of the residence, firefighters located 85-year-old Lou Edna Jones, of the Evarts Street address, inside. She was transported to the Washington Hospital Center's MedSTAR Unit, where she was pronounced dead.

The story of Sweatt and his capture was featured on truTV and Investigation Discovery Channels: 'Playing With Fire' and as part of the Forensic Files series. During the Forensic Files episode, it was said that Sweatt revealed the motive for his crimes to the police but in exchange for his confession he asked that the motive remained secret. The only thing that was revealed in the episode was that he set the fires to silence "voices" that he heard.

Guilty Plea and Sentencing

Sweatt, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Deborah K. Chasanow to various counts: possession of destructive devices; destruction of buildings by fire resulting in personal injury; possession of destructive devices in furtherance of a crime of violence; and in the criminal information originally filed in the District of Columbia, first degree premeditated murder (felony murder) and second degree murder, resulting in a mandatory life sentence before the same Judge on September 12, 2005.

Later Deadly Admission

Jan. 11, 1985, Sweatt finished his late shift as a cook at one of the Roy Rogers Restaurants and followed a male stranger in his 30s, whom he found attractive, to his house. Sweatt actually had a desire to meet him. Wanting to see the stranger again, Sweatt went home and returned to his house with a 2-liter soda bottle filled with gasoline. From the front porch of the stranger's house, he poured the gasoline under the front door, and lit it. On the second floor of the house, the stranger (Roy Picott) and his wife, daughter and stepdaughter, were all sleeping. His son and stepson were asleep in the basement and were unharmed. The others suffered severe burn injuries and his wife, Bessie Mae Duncan was killed. The official fire report at the time mistakenly blamed a dropped cigarette for the reason the fire started.

Investigators closed out 353 cases with Sweatt's help.