by Crystal Davis | Jan 30, 2012 | News Slider
A case about arson murder was the subject of the first of the HumanDocs film series for this semester, and students were piling in to Ward Hall Wednesday night for the showing of “Incendiary: The Willingham Case.” The case circles around Cameron Todd Willingham who got the raw end of the deal for years, even after death. He was caught in his house one day sleeping as a fire raged through his home. His young daughter and twin babies were also in the house. He woke to the heat of the flames and immediately started searching for his daughter. Willingham said he thought he saw his daughter run outside to her mother, but once Willingham reached his front yard he realized his wife was still running errands and his three children were still inside the house that was now blazing with flames. Neighbors and police officers had to restrain Willingham from running inside the house to save his girls. He was so distraught and desperate to get to his daughters by any means that police officers had to handcuff him, put him on a stretcher and transport him to the local hospital. Willingham suffered minimal burns to his arms, but he never saw his daughters again. They died in the house that day, barricaded by flames. Inexperienced fire investigators said they found evidence of accelerators throughout his home in various areas that led them to believe the fire could have only been caused by arson. Willingham was the lead suspect. Officers and investigators said they made him the prime suspect because people said that Willingham was acting irrational outside the house...
