Car fire set off suspicions as crew fought it (Smith Tennesee License Scandal)

GoMemphis ^ | 15 Feb 2002 | By Bill Dries

[weegee]

The first firefighters at a fiery car wreck Sunday in Fayette County that killed a Memphis driver's license examiner thought it was suspicious even as they put out the flames. Investigators began an immediate search for a device that might have triggered the intense fire, said the chief of the Piperton Fire Department.

The fire killed Katherine Smith, the examiner at the center of a federal investigation of an alleged scheme to issue driver's licenses fraudulently to men with Middle Eastern ties.

Smith died one day before she was due to appear before a federal magistrate judge for a detention hearing on the conspiracy charge. She was released on her own recognizance, but her five co-defendants have been in custody since their arrests Feb. 5.

Piperton Fire Chief Steve Kellett said he, other firefighters and Tennessee Highway Patrol officers immediately thought the fire was suspicious. For one thing, the fire appeared to have started in the rear.

"The thing that was strange about it was how high up in the car it was. Normally, if it's from a gas line, it tends to burn up everything and works from the front to the back," Kellett said Thursday.

His description is consistent with testimony Wednesday by FBI agent J. Suzanne Nash before Magistrate Judge J. Daniel Breen. Nash said a group of six witnesses saw a fire in the back seat of Smith's car as the 1992 Acura Legend veered off a stretch of U.S. 72 shortly before 1 a.m. The car crossed a ditch and landed against a utility pole.

"There was lots of damage for the amount of time it was on fire," Kellett said, noting that the fire also spread to the pole. "We would spray an area that normally would go out, but it would keep catching back. That gives you a feeling that there was something there."

Highway Patrol investigators did not find an incendiary device in the car that night, Kellett said, ". . . but they were looking for one."

The Piperton department is trained in fighting arson and spotting signs of accelerants - substances used to start and direct the path of fires. "We've had a lot of training. We've seen what accelerated fires can do," Kellett said.

In 1996, he investigated a similar vehicle fire. In that case, a truck was burned with a device that used a milk jug filled with gasoline.

Nash testified Wednesday that Smith's clothing had gasoline on it and that a dog trained to detect the presence of accelerants indicated such substances were in the car.

Samples of those materials are being tested, she said. She also said the fire was set but did not say how or who may have done it.

Kellett said two "bubble spots" on the back of the trunk indicate arson. "Something was pushing the fire. It was focusing it in a direction."

[Dog]

She was alive the ME said ...her airway was burned.

[_Jim]

Probably so.

Oh brother ... more mysterious, unexplained, non-present 'devices' ... you guys would make a fine batch of detectives ...

[null and void]

And your explanation of it all is?

[okie01]

"It was RATHER OBVIOUS even to the FIRE FIGHTERS."

So it was. So, what was the point? Why did they go to this amount of trouble for something so transparent? Why not a bullet in the brain?

Sending a message? To who?

[Dog]

Jim ....your theory is what??

Alien spacecraft.....swooped in and fired a laser beam??

[weegee]

Did she drive the car before early Sunday morning after getting out of jail? She was out for 1 week prior to the hit. What happened to the car during that time? Where was it parked? Who had access to it?

Odtllah had access to duplicate keys since he sold the car. He was in jail but an associate could have tampered with the car. The car crash was Sunday night.

It's difficult to say when such a device would have been planted (Where was the car? Impounded at her arrest? In a government parking garage/lot at the DMV? At her apartment? At Odtllah's place?

It's doubtful that she would have been exterminated if the deal proceeded without incident as Odtllah had used her for this in the past.

It's dangerous to install such a mechanism in the car "for a later date" because it could still go off in an accident and then there would be some explaining to do (especially since the car would trace back to Odtllah).

[null and void]

You are making the HUGE assumptions that (1) they have completed the investigation and (2) found nothing.

Ya don't think they'd maybe keep a FEW details secret, if for no other reason than to check the veracity of a confession?

Nah! Cops alway let the perps know just how close they are to figuring out whodunit...

[okie01]

"Freebasing?"

Richard Pryor could give us some expert testimony...

[weegee]

Did the ME guys have a tip that they were going to be arrested?

An FBI agent in NYC got a tip from an informant that they were travelling to Memphis to obtain fraudulent Tennessee driver's licenses.

It is possible that someone could have tipped off the criminals as well but I suspect that they would have called it off (rather than sit in jail and answer awkward questions about past licenses and whereabouts 9/11).

[okie01]

"She was alive the ME said ...her airway was burned."

Alive. But unconscious.

[null and void]

I hope so.

[Shermy]

I'm trying to make a handy template of links, mostly FR threads, on this case. There are many, so I want to economize. Comments and suggestions on additions or editions of the below is welcomed here or by FreepMail. TY.

_____

Feb. 7

Six Charged in Tenn. License Plot [Courtesy of the Tennessee DemocRAT Party]

Feb. 8 (for comedic relief)

Dri ver license fraud case here is a rare incident, state says

Feb. 11

WOMAN ARRESTED FOR AIDING ARABS IN DRIVER'S LICENSE SCAM PRESUMED DEAD

Tennessee finds a cost to easing driver's license rules Some other states, airlines no longer accept (Boston Globe)

Feb. 12

Feds fear license examiner is dead - Memphis Woman's co-defendants tied to 9/11, judge told

Feb. 13:

Body in car identified as license examiner - Update on Memphis, Tennesse License Examiner

Feb. 14

TENN DRIVER LICENSE SCANDAL: FLAMING DEATH NO ACCIDENT, FBI SAYS

TENN DRIVER LICENSE SCANDAL: FLAMING DEATH NO ACCIDENT, FBI SAYS (II)

Feb. 14

FBI Agent: Arson Killed Key Suspect (driver's license examiner accused of supplying terrorists) Flaming death no accident, FBI says - Gasoline found on clothes of license examiner

Feb. 15

New York Times (with Pics of car) F.B.I. Says Arson Killed Woman Accused in License Scheme

Sm ith led low-impact life until arrest, fiery end (Not a thread)

Pics of License Scam suspects

[testforecho]

AGAIN, there will be charred REMAINS of some 'device' ...

I am sure that FBI arson investigators are going over the car very carefully. They haven't announced one way or the other if there was any 'device' found, as far as I know. There could be one in there, and they haven't gotten to it yet.

But, to forestall your objections, let's assume that there is no incendiary device or fuel container present in the car. If there are witnesses, who saw no one get out of the car, and didn't see anyone throw anything in there, then I would believe this is a highly unusual suicide.

Unusual because people don't burn themselves to death very often, and black middle aged women (to generalize here) don't cook up some accelerant laced gasoline and set themselves on fire to make it look like they were in an accident. Or to fool fire investigators into thinking they were killed. Still, statistical improbabilities do happen.

[okie01]

"more mysterious, unexplained, non-present 'devices'"

O.K. How does one ignite the interior of a moving automobile?

[null and void]

Thanks. Maybe underscoreJim can use these to enlighten us.

(does "underscore" mean you are less than 20?)

[Shermy]

Among pictures, I'm especially looking for one of the front end of the car. I saw it on a local tv video, the damage from the pole was relatively minimal. thx.

[Dog]

Look how intense that fire was........whoa!

What could burn that hot??

[Inge_CAV]

"Look how intense that fire was........whoa!"

"What could burn that hot??"

Crumbled up foam cups in a plastic gasoline container? Think I read that somewhere but not sure.

[null and void]

You don't need to crumble them. They disolve practically instantly...

[Inge_CAV]

Napalm?