AUTOPSY AND INVESTIGATIVE REPORTS ON THE DEATH OF CHIEF NEGOTIATOR

08/23/02 | Harris County Medical Examiner's Office, Houston Fire Department Fire/Arson Investigations

[carenot]

Is is time for an all out e-mail blitz?

Any thing you say, I will do. Tell me who and where!

[carenot]

Is is time for an all out e-mail blitz?

It is time!

[cricket]

Do you or anyone know what his wife is doing now; or thinking in retrospect about this? Perhaps this was already posted and I missed it.

Sad that 'post' this investigation, what is left, is more questions than answers.

[Chad Fairbanks]

Well, gimmee the who and where, and I'll let my fingers do the walkin!

[A Navy Vet]

This is it? This is an arson report? Hell, I filled out more complete reports working Shore Patrol decades ago. TOO many specifics left out. Without reading the rest of the replies, what was the determination on the whacko neighbor?

Thanks for following through on this.

[COB1]

Mrs. Chief doesn't want anything to do with FR or any of it's people due to a certain event which took place between a freeper and Mrs. Chief.
She was not doing well last I heard.

Care, if you remember we started to do this about six months ago, and were talked out of it because it appeared that the case was close to being solved.
Let me dig and see if I still have all those addresses we need.
We need those telephone numbers, too, to really make it effective!

[lucyblue]

bump

[COB1]

There is a lot of mystery surrounding this neighbor.
I personally think he's being protected by someone who has considerable power.

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

Let me know who to e-maill and the e-mail and I'll ping my list.
We've all waited one full year to the day for justice.
LRTS ROLL!!!

[Jalapeno]

Mrs. Chief doesn't want anything to do with FR or any of it's people due to a certain event which took place between a freeper and Mrs. Chief.

How unfortunate.

bump

[A Navy Vet]

"Mrs. Chief doesn't want anything to do with FR or any of it's people due to a certain event which took place between a freeper and Mrs. Chief."

That's too bad. FR has been known to light fires under beaurocrats on occassion. But have to respect her wishes.

[A Navy Vet]

Oh no, I just realized the terrible unintended pun in my message. Please accept my apology.

[COB1]

Let me try to give everyone a synopsis of this neighbor:

On the night of the fire, Mrs. Chief says that the neighbor never came out of his house, although he lived next door.
He says the reason he didn't come out was because he wasn't home; he was at his girlfriend's house.
The girlfriend verified this was true, but talking to a friend of this girlfriend, I learned that the girlfriend is scared to death of this guy.
As far as I was ever able to determine, this was the only witness as to where this neighbor was on the night of the fire.

This is the same neighbor who tried to kill his landlord who came into his yard to see about his house after the neighbor was two months behind in his rent.
I personally went to the courtroom with the old man who was nearly killed. This old man is 72, I believe. The neighbor crushed his windpipe and he had to go to the emergency room.
A liberal judge that day let the neighbor walk.

Talking to the attorney for the landlord I learned that this neighbor lives on a pension for his service in the military, although he doesn't have any apparent injuries.
She told me that she had tried to inquire about the pension from the guardian of the pension, another attorney, but that the file was missing.
When she asked the other attorney about the missing file, he refused to talk about it.

This is the same neighbor who a witness told me had poured gasoline on another man but his lighter wouldn't light.
When he went to get a match, the victim ran away.

Yes, this neighbor has a lot of mystery surrounding him.

[GailA]

When a person dies in an arson fire it is MURDER. You can't die by accident in a arson case. Who ever set the fire may not have intended to kill, but when some one dies in them then it is HOMICIDE. DUH!

[HoustonCurmudgeon]

No one thinks about Herb now.

There are people doing things who don't think it will serve any purpose to speculate or burn their sources on a public forum.

For those who care, I worry about COB1's health, given the number of hours he worries about this matter. I'm sure he could use any prayers you have to spare! ;-)

[sibb1213]

Not true carenot, I think about him. It would be wonderful if the truth could be learned and his wife's pain would be lessened. He was a great American.

[COB1]

Thanks, HC.
I could definitely use the prayers.
This is the most frustrating thing that I've ever been involved in!

[HoustonCurmudgeon]

Like A Navy Vet before me, I should have used other words than "burn bridges". Sorry.

[getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL]

This must be a terribly difficult day for you, my FRiend. Terribly difficult.

What can we do to help?

Does anyone have any inside connections to the local FBI? Perhaps someone there could give some suggestions on where to go...? Or what about a local news station that might be known for it's investigative reporting?

I don't know; I'm just thinking aloud...

God Bless.

[HighWheeler]

1 year.

Rest in Peace, Herb.