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Speaker 1: Sword and Scale contains adult themes and violence, and is

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not intended for all audiences.

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Speaker 2: Listener discretion is advised.

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Speaker 3: She was literally burnt alive. There was not much left

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of her body.

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Speaker 1: If you support independent media such as podcasts like this one,

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head on over to Sword and Scale dot com and

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consider joining plus and help keep us alive. This is

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season twelve, episode two d and eighty nine of Sword

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and Scale, a show that reveals it the worst monsters

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are real. When you join Plus, starting at just ten

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bucks a month, you get commercial free early access to

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a whole ton of extra stuff. Just go check it

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out swordscale dot com or download our app on Android

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or iOS. This show was written and produced by Mish

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Barbara Way. It's a cold January morning in Buffalo, New York.

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The sky is black and clear, the kind of stillness

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that feels a little unnatural, a little unsettling, like the

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city itself is holding its breath. Moonlight casts long shadows

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across the snowy streets. Not even the wind stirs. Nothing

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moves in this colt snap except a faint curl of

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smoke rising in the distance, a warning no one has

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noticed yet. At the local fire station, fire Marshal Paul

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Simonian cradles another mug of coffee, hunched over his desk,

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passing the time with paperwork. Then the call comes in

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a fire on the east side. Within seconds, his team

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is pulling on their gear, boots slamming against the concrete.

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The fire engine roars to life as they tear through

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the frozen streets towards the house on fire.

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Speaker 4: So they get there, it's black, the rooms full of smoke.

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You see a little glow on the floor and they say,

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we have no fire on the first floor. We're in

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the second floor. We see some rubbish, maybe a pile

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of clothes burning in the center of the room.

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Speaker 1: Paul listens to the radio. It seems like your typical

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house fire. His men are on it. He turns back

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to his work, keeping an ear on dispatch.

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Speaker 4: Shortly after, the lieutenant called back said no, it's not rubbish.

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We have a victim up here. We have a fatality.

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Speaker 1: Paul shuts up, gets in his vehicle and speeds towards

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the fire en route.

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Speaker 4: I get to the fire scene, I go up to

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the incident demand ask him what's going on. He says,

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there's some occupants there across the street at a neighbor's house,

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some brothers and a mom.

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Speaker 1: I go, okay, the victim's family made it out. Now

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they huddle inside a neighbor's house, away from the biting cold.

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But inside, twenty eight year old Elizabeth Bell is dead.

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Thick smoke curls from the top windows of the little house,

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twisting into the night like something alive. Red and blue

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lights slash across the neighbor's windows, shaking the street. Awake

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neighbors step cautiously onto their porches, drawn by the unmistakable

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pull of disaster. Only minutes before, firefighters were barking orders,

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hauling hoses and attacking the inferno on the second floor.

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But now the fire is out and the smoke is settled.

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So when Paul arrives, he takes a breath, steadying himself.

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Then he steps inside.

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Speaker 4: Go on the front door. There's no visible fire at all.

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Down on the first floor. I go to the back

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of the house where the stairs are. I just start

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seeing some smoke, smudge down the stairs and some fire debris.

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Meet the lieutenant up there. He takes me and shows

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me where Elizabeth is. She's in the back room of

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the house. There's some big aquariums on the side with

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some reptiles in it. There's fire damage in there, like ceiling,

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heat damage and things like that. And our fire crews

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did their overhauling wood, ripped down the ceilings, in the

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walls and looking in the channels make sure there's no

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more fire. And then we proceed to the front of

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the house and there's a small little room on the left.

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There was a little girl's bed in there, like a

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Hello Kitty bed or something like that.

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Speaker 1: But the little girl's room wasn't the place where the

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fire originated, so Paul moved over to Elizabeth's bedroom, and.

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Speaker 4: Then I went in Elizabeth's bedroom and you could see

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the mattress was burned pretty good on a third of it.

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Maybe there's a big mattress, maybe a king size mattress

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burned into the box spring a little bit. There was

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some fire damage in there, more heat damage.

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Speaker 1: The fire started on Elizabeth's bet mattress was burned into

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the box spring, black and charred, coiled springs flinging upwards

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like a broken jack in the box. The fire on

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her mattress was still petering out.

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Speaker 4: The ceiling was down, some of the walls were torn down,

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and I happened to just look, you know, I was

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just looking across the room, seeing what's going on. I

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look for candles, I'm looking for smoking, overloaded extension cords,

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anything like that. And I see a piece of drywall

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that's broken down and something's dripping on it, but it's

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leaving a sheen like a rainbowchine.

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Speaker 1: The oily rainbow machine made Paul do a double take.

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He stepped closer. He knew what that was, he just

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couldn't believe it.

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Speaker 4: And there's a little juice bottle that's tipped over and

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it's dripping. And I take a smell of that and

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I notice it's gasoline. It smells like gasoline, like an accelerant.

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My flag goes up. I go, oh, well, we probably

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have a crime scene here. I'd go back out with

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the lieutenant. I said, stop the overhauling, don't rip anything

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else down anywhere, don't touch Elizabeth.

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Speaker 1: Paul knew that spray of gasoline on Elizabeth's wall was

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the beginning of their story. Now he had to find

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out what the rest of it was. This looked like

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the aftermath of a terrible accident or a desperate attempt

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to end it all. The Buffalo Police Department was called

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onto the scene. Paul racked his brain to figure out

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what had happened to Elizabeth. It was also strange and

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unsettling because Elizabeth lay splayed on the floor where she died,

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wearing only a bra. The fabric fused to what was

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left of her. She had clearly been sleeping when the

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fire started, and it didn't start around her, it started

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on her. Her stomach had been the source, and it

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was charred beyond anything human.

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Speaker 4: From her knees to her belly, you know, all in there,

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her growing, her thighs, all that area, not her face,

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her upper body, so it was all right there.

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Speaker 1: It was a grizzly sight, something you should probably never

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see in your lifetime. Elizabeth had hollowed out in the middle.

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Her stomach was like the pit of a campfire.

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Speaker 4: It's very disturbing because some of the areas red, some

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is black. It's just burnt, burned like you burned food.

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But Elizabeth was burned in some areas to the bone.

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I could see her thigh.

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Speaker 1: Paul and the investigators went across the street to talk

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to you Elizabeth's family. The house was rented by Elizabeth's mother,

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who lived there along with Elizabeth, her young daughter, and

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Elizabeth's brother. When Paul and the investigators spoke with Elizabeth's brother,

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he told them and how everything started that night.

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Speaker 4: Then it kind of started really taking a twist that

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her boyfriend came over, some yelling going on back and forth.

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Speaker 1: Elizabeth's newly estranged boyfriend, Frank Brett Junior, had showed up

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at the house in the middle of the night. Elizabeth's

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brother said he came in and walked straight up to

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her bedroom. Her brother heard some yelling and then an

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earth shattering boom.

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Speaker 4: And the one brother said he heard Frank come down

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the backstairs very fast, and he opened up his bedroom

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door or went into the kitchen, and he saw Frank

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on fire and they were trying to put him out,

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and he told the brother to go upstairs, help your sister,

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and he ran out the back door.

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Speaker 1: Frank fled the house on fire, leaving Elizabeth burning in

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her bedroom and the horrid smell of smoke billowing behind him.

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This is former Buffalo District Attorney John Flynn.

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Speaker 3: He took off out of the house, went to the backyard,

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jumped the fence, and then ran down the backyards to

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another street, and he broke into a house on Leeroy

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Street and hid in a closet.

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Speaker 1: The flames were still clinging to Frank as he ran

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like a madman, peeling off his burnding clothes and throwing

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them behind him in the snow. He made it down

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to the street before breaking into the first unlocked house

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he could find.

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Speaker 3: He's now hiding in the closet of this house that

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he broke into. A little girl who lived in that

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house wakes up Mommy and Daddy in their bedroom and says,

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Mommy and Daddy, someone's in the house. Now, put yourself

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in that situation. Okay, I got five kids, all right,

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If one of my kids did that, I'd be like, no, honey,

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you're dreaming. You had a bad dream. Go back to bed.

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And that's exactly what dad did.

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Speaker 4: Here.

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Speaker 3: Well, Mom, now who's lying in bed, says hmm, I

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think I smell something.

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Speaker 4: You know.

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Speaker 3: Mom and Dad, you know, are kind of up in

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the bed now and they're kind of sniffing now, and

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Mom's like, yeah, I smell something, and so Dad gets up.

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What he's smelling is burnt flesh.

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Speaker 1: Unbelievable, the unmistakable smell wafting from the closet had given

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Frank away.

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Speaker 3: Dad follows the smell of burnt flesh into this closet

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and opens the closet door. He now grabs this guy,

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takes him out of the closet, takes him out of

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the house, and throws him outside on the front lawn.

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Speaker 1: But at the same time, police officers from the scene

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Elizabeth's house had noticed Frank's trail in the snow and

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started following it.

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Speaker 4: Blood on fence posts and climbing over the fence, we

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see clothing. They find a burned jacket behind a bush.

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They're tracking this this person in the snow, the blood

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trail in the snow, the clothing, climbing fences, broken picket fences,

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and then they get a call. The police get a

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call of somebody in a man's house around the corner.

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Speaker 1: Frank lay in the snow on the front lawn, his

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raw red flesh exposed to the elements. It was a

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mess of soot and blood. But unlike Elizabeth, he was alive.

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Speaker 3: Three different people in the neighborhood now have called nine

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to one one and police fire first responders. Everyone's coming

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in a neighborhood and as you can imagine there is

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a blood trail of him running from the back these

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backyard cards all the way down to where this house was.

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Again unbelievable.

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Speaker 1: It was unbelievable what had started as a routine house

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fire had spiraled into chaos on the East side of Buffalo,

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flame smoke, an injured child, and then something far worse,

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a dead woman who looked like she'd been burned alive.

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Frank was burned badly, too unrecognizable actually, but he was breathing,

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and for investigators that meant one thing. If he survived,

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he might be the only one who could explain what

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really happened inside that house. But by the time that

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he could speak, a story would already be taking shape,

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one where investigators wondered if the fire started in Elizabeth's

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hands or his. Twenty seven year old Elizabeth Bell had

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been burned alive in her East Side home in Buffalo,

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New York. What started as a routine house fire quickly

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turned into a potential homicide investigation when firefighters discovered that

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Elizabeth was the source of the inferno. Even more shocking,

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her former boyfriend, Frank Brett Junior, had also gone up

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in flames. He fled the scene, burning alive, only to

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be caught after breaking into a stranger's home, his scorched

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flesh giving him away. Elizabeth was pronounced dead at the scene.

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Fire Marshal Paul Simonian hypothesized that gasoline had been thrown

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on her torso and ignited. Elizabeth had stumbled and crawled

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away from her bed into the hallway, where she passed

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out and perished. During the chaos, Elizabeth's child had run too,

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burning only the bottoms of her feet as she escaped

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downstairs out the front door with the other members of

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the house. No one else had been hurt in the

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fire except Elizabeth and Frank, and the police were zeroing

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in on Frank, after all, innocent people don't run and hide.

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But Frank had been taken to the hospital, not a

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holding cell.

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Speaker 3: He was, like I said before, severely burned, like almost

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dead burn. I suspect that you and your listeners have

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heard in the past degrees of burns first degree, second degree,

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third degree. They don't really use degrees anymore. I mean

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some people do, but what they use now is the

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terms superficial, partial thickness, and full thickness.

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Speaker 1: A superficial burn is painful but tolerable. You've probably suffered

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quite a few in your lifetime. Think of a really

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bad sun burner, that flushy little lump you get when

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you touch a hot pan. Partial thickness burns are more

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severe and injure deeper layers of skin called the dermis.

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This burn will take weeks to heal and is the

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most painful because no damage has been done to the nerves.

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This kind of burn is pretty agonizing, but a full

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thickness burn destroys most of the dermis, getting right down

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to the muscle and bone. The burn part of the

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body is left with a waxy white appearance. It's completely terrifying.

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A full thickness burn destroys most of the nerves. There's

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no blister because the burn has gone so deep. It's

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plowed through all that flesh, blood, and muscle.

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Speaker 3: He had full thickness of burns throughout his body. He

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had to have a cadaver skin graph done of his face.

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He lost all of his fingers. They actually had to

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put him in a induced coma to actually do the

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skin graph of his face, and they had to graft

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on new eyelids on his eyes to say he was

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jacked up as an understatement of the century.

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Speaker 1: Frank was a mummified version of the man he once was.

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Just a day before, he had been a handsome, healthy,

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thirty three year old man. Now he was a monster,

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burned on ninety percent of his body, with stubs for

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hands and ears that melted into the side of his head.

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His lips looked like two banana slugs resting on an

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old leather mask. He would never be the same again.

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Karma's got a funny way of working, It really does.

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It can be quite efficient too.

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Speaker 3: There was no way he was leaving the hospital. He

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was not a flight risk, so there was no There

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was no rush to arrest him to keep him in jail.

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He wasn't going anywhere. So in this case, we made

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the decision to not arrest him right away and to

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just work up our case, do the investigation, and then

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put it in the grand jury.

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Speaker 1: Parsimonian, the head Fire Marshal at the time was already

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piecing together when had happened based on the evidence.

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Speaker 4: You learn not to just rush to a snap judgment

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because so many things could have happen. You know, you

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don't know the players, you don't know what actually transpired.

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In that bedroom. Who did what? Who said?

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Speaker 2: What?

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Speaker 4: I said? You got gasoline up here that doesn't belong

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up here, so something's wrong there. You have a boyfriend

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that ran out. They were both on fire. He didn't

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state it or tried to help her. He ran out.

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How badly is he burned? This is way before we

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have any information about Frank, any threats he's made in

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the past or history with Elizabeth.

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Speaker 1: Frank may have been incapacitated, but Elizabeth's family was unharmed,

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and they knew far too much about the couple. That

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thirteen hundred square foot yellow house in Buffalo wasn't just

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a home. It was a tight knit world where no

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secret stayed hidden, especially between Elizabeth and Frank. Elizabeth Bell

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was unconventional and eccentric. She was bold, passionate, im possible

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to ignore. She had a deep love for animals, working

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at a veterinary clinic and filling her home with strays

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in need of care. Her aquarium teemed with reptiles and

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a cage of ferrets rattled with energy, each one adored.

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Her bedroom was like a zoo. In her early twenties,

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she had a daughter from a previous marriage and was

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raising her with the help of her mother. She was

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the kind of woman who dyed her hair every color

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of the rainbow. You know the type. You probably are

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the type judging by our demographics data. Anyway, she thrived

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in Buffalo's alternative scene, where music, misfits and mayhem collided.

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That's where she met Frank, a fixture in their tight

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knit friend group. They'd known each other for years, but

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in twenty seventeen their friendship turned into something more.

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Speaker 3: He had actually moved in with her into her mom's

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house and was living there in the fall of twenty seventeen.

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Speaker 1: Frank was working in construction, doing odd jobs when he could.

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He was just as wild to look at as Elizabeth,

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with his long dyed red beard in alternative clothing. Think

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punk rock meets medieval tavern vibes with a dash of

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white guy with dreadlocks. That's the Fena type we're working

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with here. But he was charismatic and kind. Even Elizabeth's

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mother remembered how fond she had always been of Frank.

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He was the type of guy who really locked eyes

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with whoever he was talking to and made them feel

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like they were the center of the universe. He had

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a way about him that was inviting when he wanted

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it to be. That is, Elizabeth and Frank were both

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intense type people. She wielded words like weapons, and he

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never backed down either. What had started as a blissful

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relationship full of fun and excitement, quickly turned into toxicity.

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When Frank moved in, things slowly got worse. It was

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00:22:18,079 --> 00:22:21,640
like he'd lost all his charismatic power being in their home.

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The personality he had put forth to impress people was

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washed away by tight living quarters. The real Frank started

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to show that fall. Elizabeth's family all had to listen

323
00:22:35,400 --> 00:22:40,000
to the couple's fights getting worse. They would be screaming

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at each other well into the night. Two hard headed,

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passionate people, both unwilling to give in. By December, it

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was all over. Their relationship hadn't even lasted a year

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before Elizabeth told Frank to get out. He didn't go

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quietly either. On his way out, he put his fist

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through a window.

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Speaker 3: And he moved out. And again, now, this homicide occurred

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on January eleventh, so he moves out now in December,

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approximately a month before the homicide, and the breakup was

333
00:23:15,599 --> 00:23:20,440
not smooth. It was a very contentious breakup.

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Speaker 1: Frank packed up his things and left in a huff

335
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to stay with his mom, who wasn't too far away.

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Though they had separated, Elizabeth and Frank continued their fighting.

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Speaker 3: That month from December to January was extremely contentious. Contentious,

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you know, text messages going back and forth between the

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two of them.

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Speaker 1: Through the safety of their cell phones. They argued about

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00:23:46,440 --> 00:23:50,200
bills one party didn't pay, and stuff they needed back

342
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from each other, you know that kind of stuff. They

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hurled insults at one another like petty children via text.

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Speaker 3: What really took it over the top was a bike

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00:24:05,559 --> 00:24:07,559
that he had that he left there.

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Speaker 1: Frank's main way of getting around town was on his

347
00:24:10,799 --> 00:24:14,559
beloved bike. But this wasn't just any old mountain bike.

348
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He'd rigged it up to what he really fancied a

349
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real special machine.

350
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Speaker 3: And he put some kind of a fancy engine on

351
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the bike, so he turned the bike into kind of like,

352
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you know, a motorbike, all right, And so he had

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this like souped up bike that he left there. Elizabeth

354
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apparently put the bike to the curb, to the trash

355
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and either someone picked a bike up or the garbage

356
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men did and threw it.

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Speaker 1: Away in an irritated rage, one afternoon, Elizabeth threw Frank's

358
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bike on the curb, along with his tools, the tools

359
00:24:55,960 --> 00:24:59,079
that his father had given him. She took a photograph

360
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of the pile and texted it to Frank.

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Speaker 3: The bottom line is that he lost his bike and

362
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he believed that she threw it away, and he was livid.

363
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At that point. There were text messages going back and

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forth where he basically threatened a killer. He threatened a

365
00:25:19,799 --> 00:25:23,839
burner like literally said I'm gonna burn you and your

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whole fat fin family.

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Speaker 1: After the threat, Elizabeth wrote to Frank, someone.

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Speaker 5: Already thought your bike was trash. I'll bring everything else inside.

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Please don't burn our fat selves down. Good thing I

370
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paid for that bike. No love lost, he responded, not

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a joke.

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Speaker 3: He also made threatning remarks to his boss. So Frank

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was kind of a handyman, laborer, construction kind of guy.

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He worked for this one guy who became a witness

375
00:25:59,200 --> 00:26:03,880
at trial. He basically told his boss that, hey, I'm

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going to pay her back for what she did, or

377
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I'm going to get her words of that effect.

378
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Speaker 1: Frank had lost his mind. That bike had pushed him

379
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to the point of no return. Elizabeth and Frank were

380
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so innately intense that when it was good, it was euphoric,

381
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but when it was bad, it was World War three.

382
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And when she finally kicked him out, Frank had nowhere

383
00:26:31,039 --> 00:26:35,279
to put the wreckage of his emotions. He didn't process it,

384
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He didn't grieve, He just flipped the switch. The love

385
00:26:40,599 --> 00:26:45,359
and passion he once felt for her all curdled into pure,

386
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undiluted hate.

387
00:26:49,480 --> 00:26:58,160
Speaker 3: The early morning hours of January eleventh, twenty eighteen, he

388
00:26:58,160 --> 00:27:01,000
he got on a bike. Okay, kind of ironic that

389
00:27:01,079 --> 00:27:04,519
he used a bike to go do the murder scene,

390
00:27:05,039 --> 00:27:07,680
you can say that again. He did not break in.

391
00:27:08,400 --> 00:27:11,759
The door was open. Apparently at three o'clock in the morning.

392
00:27:12,119 --> 00:27:15,599
The adult brother who lived there was still up and

393
00:27:15,640 --> 00:27:19,279
he saw him come in, and he didn't think anything

394
00:27:19,319 --> 00:27:23,240
of it, because you know, he had lived there up

395
00:27:23,319 --> 00:27:26,200
until a month ago. He was kind of coming in

396
00:27:26,240 --> 00:27:28,759
and coming out, you know, and he was still around.

397
00:27:28,799 --> 00:27:33,519
Speaker 1: Apparently Elizabeth's brother wasn't privy to all the intense drama

398
00:27:33,599 --> 00:27:36,759
between her and Frank that was going on between the

399
00:27:36,799 --> 00:27:41,519
two of them via texts and social media, so he

400
00:27:41,599 --> 00:27:44,400
watched Frank walk upstairs and said nothing.

401
00:27:45,160 --> 00:27:50,799
Speaker 3: He had with him a satchel, and in the satchel

402
00:27:51,359 --> 00:27:55,720
he had like charcoal briquettes, you know that, you know,

403
00:27:55,839 --> 00:28:01,839
like charcoly used on a grill, And he had lighter fluid.

404
00:28:02,519 --> 00:28:08,519
He had a lighter and he also had a Hawaiian

405
00:28:08,640 --> 00:28:12,880
punch container filled with gasoline.

406
00:28:13,279 --> 00:28:16,480
Speaker 1: Frank went quietly into the room that he used to share.

407
00:28:17,400 --> 00:28:20,920
He found Elizabeth asleep in her bed, and he undid

408
00:28:20,960 --> 00:28:21,960
his satchel.

409
00:28:22,319 --> 00:28:28,480
Speaker 3: She was asleep or perhaps passed out in the bed.

410
00:28:28,720 --> 00:28:33,400
Now I say passed out because when the autopsy was

411
00:28:33,440 --> 00:28:40,519
done there was a significant amount of alcohol in her system.

412
00:28:40,880 --> 00:28:44,799
Speaker 1: Alcohol knocks you into a heavy sleep. It's like a

413
00:28:44,839 --> 00:28:48,799
sleep so deep you wouldn't notice being moved, let alone

414
00:28:48,839 --> 00:28:51,839
someone dripping liquid onto your skin.

415
00:28:52,680 --> 00:28:57,319
Speaker 3: He took his Hawaiian punch bottle that he had with gasoline,

416
00:28:57,640 --> 00:28:59,480
and he dumped it on.

417
00:28:59,480 --> 00:29:02,240
Speaker 4: Her in the room, all over the bed, on the floor,

418
00:29:02,839 --> 00:29:05,240
and some might have got on him. But there's fumes

419
00:29:05,279 --> 00:29:07,119
now in that room. That whole room is like a

420
00:29:07,160 --> 00:29:07,839
little bomb.

421
00:29:08,279 --> 00:29:13,200
Speaker 1: Frank stood over a sleeping Elizabeth. His anger simmered as

422
00:29:13,200 --> 00:29:17,240
he emptied the juice bottle, gasoline soaking into the sheets.

423
00:29:18,079 --> 00:29:21,720
But like Paul said, the real danger wasn't just the liquid.

424
00:29:21,799 --> 00:29:25,920
It was the fumes seeping into every inch of that

425
00:29:26,000 --> 00:29:30,720
tiny bedroom, turning the air itself into a weapon.

426
00:29:31,279 --> 00:29:34,640
Speaker 3: When he took us lighter out to light her on fire,

427
00:29:35,920 --> 00:29:38,240
the whole room blew up.

428
00:29:38,880 --> 00:29:43,640
Speaker 4: When that ignition happens and you're surrounded in fire, it's immediate.

429
00:29:43,680 --> 00:29:47,000
It's like a flash over. Whatever he's wearing is on

430
00:29:47,160 --> 00:29:48,000
fire now too.

431
00:29:48,960 --> 00:29:54,279
Speaker 1: It happened in an instant. Flames roared to life and

432
00:29:54,400 --> 00:29:59,440
gulfing Elizabeth. As her screams shattered the air, fire and

433
00:29:59,519 --> 00:30:04,559
smokes swallowed the room. Then Frank felt the searing pain

434
00:30:05,759 --> 00:30:07,559
his own skin was burning.

435
00:30:08,160 --> 00:30:11,279
Speaker 4: He didn't realize that that was gonna flash on him.

436
00:30:11,319 --> 00:30:14,640
Gasoling is so volatile, and the fumes, it's the fumes

437
00:30:14,680 --> 00:30:17,599
that burn and flash, and then the gasoline just keeps

438
00:30:18,559 --> 00:30:21,799
fueling the fire and the fumes. That's what's burning. There's

439
00:30:21,839 --> 00:30:23,079
the fumes, not the liquid.

440
00:30:23,480 --> 00:30:26,880
Speaker 1: Because the gasoline had been poured on Elizabeth, she was

441
00:30:27,000 --> 00:30:30,559
on fire. She stumbled out of her room, grasping at

442
00:30:30,559 --> 00:30:35,240
anything to help put her out, but it was useless.

443
00:30:36,240 --> 00:30:40,200
The second floor was filled with black smoke, and she

444
00:30:40,200 --> 00:30:44,319
couldn't breathe or see. She couldn't stop the fire that

445
00:30:44,519 --> 00:30:47,359
was taking her life away.

446
00:30:48,119 --> 00:30:51,799
Speaker 4: Elizabeth has gasoline on her so that the liquid gasoline

447
00:30:51,839 --> 00:30:55,599
was still producing fumes, so it's like a source. It

448
00:30:55,759 --> 00:30:56,519
just kept burning.

449
00:30:57,279 --> 00:31:01,279
Speaker 1: But Frank was on fire too, and that was not

450
00:31:01,440 --> 00:31:05,759
his plan. He left Elizabeth to burn alive and ran.

451
00:31:06,119 --> 00:31:08,279
Speaker 4: Ten twelve feet. He made it down the stairs, saw

452
00:31:08,319 --> 00:31:10,880
the brother with the commotion, said go help your sister,

453
00:31:10,960 --> 00:31:12,160
and he ran out.

454
00:31:12,440 --> 00:31:15,359
Speaker 1: Elizabeth's brother tried to smother the flames on Frank, but

455
00:31:15,799 --> 00:31:19,160
it was useless. That's when Frank bolted out and broke

456
00:31:19,240 --> 00:31:23,000
into the house down the street. Elizabeth's mother tried to

457
00:31:23,000 --> 00:31:25,920
get up the stairs to reach her daughter, but the

458
00:31:25,960 --> 00:31:29,400
smoke in the hallway choked her, the heat driving her back.

459
00:31:30,200 --> 00:31:33,839
The fire was too fast, so she had no choice.

460
00:31:34,400 --> 00:31:38,839
Leaving her daughter behind was agony, but no one could

461
00:31:38,839 --> 00:31:45,079
get up those stairs. Elizabeth was left alone to burn.

462
00:31:46,039 --> 00:31:51,480
Speaker 3: She was burnt so bad, just awful, awful, awful way

463
00:31:51,480 --> 00:31:54,279
to die, burned alive alive.

464
00:31:54,960 --> 00:31:57,400
Speaker 1: When the police found Frank on the neighbor's lawn, he

465
00:31:57,480 --> 00:32:04,400
muttered the words motive an opportunity. Multiple first responders heard

466
00:32:04,400 --> 00:32:09,920
it as police, prosecutors and fire investigators placed the case. Together,

467
00:32:10,480 --> 00:32:15,359
they uncovered the how, but the why remained a haunting mystery.

468
00:32:16,359 --> 00:32:19,480
Fire wasn't just a weapon here, It was a statement,

469
00:32:20,240 --> 00:32:24,200
a slow, agonizing way to make someone suffer. If Frank

470
00:32:24,359 --> 00:32:27,440
truly meant to burn the whole fucking fat family down

471
00:32:27,480 --> 00:32:31,440
like he had threatened, why not torch the house? Why

472
00:32:31,519 --> 00:32:35,799
make sure Elizabeth was the source. The brutality of all

473
00:32:35,839 --> 00:32:38,079
of this set his crime apart.

474
00:32:38,799 --> 00:32:43,119
Speaker 2: It's actually really really unusual for someone to use fire

475
00:32:43,720 --> 00:32:48,519
to actually kill another human being. It's really unusual. I

476
00:32:48,559 --> 00:32:52,920
can think of probably two or three examples in my

477
00:32:53,039 --> 00:32:57,640
whole career, and I started working in fire setting over

478
00:32:57,680 --> 00:32:58,680
fifteen years ago.

479
00:32:58,839 --> 00:33:04,319
Speaker 1: Now this is Professor Teresa Gannon. She's a forensic psychologist

480
00:33:04,319 --> 00:33:07,880
at the University of Kent who specializes in fire setting.

481
00:33:08,720 --> 00:33:11,400
She became interested in arson when she was tasked with

482
00:33:11,799 --> 00:33:15,480
analyzing a case involving fire as a weapon.

483
00:33:15,640 --> 00:33:20,000
Speaker 2: Everyone presumes that people set deliberate fires, or try and

484
00:33:20,000 --> 00:33:24,240
harm people with deliberate fires, or warn people off, or

485
00:33:24,839 --> 00:33:29,079
send a message about their own distress because they're inappropriately

486
00:33:29,240 --> 00:33:34,279
interested in fire. And quickly I became interested in the

487
00:33:34,319 --> 00:33:36,920
fact that some of the people I was coming across

488
00:33:36,960 --> 00:33:42,000
in clinical assessment and treatment. They didn't have an inappropriate

489
00:33:42,039 --> 00:33:44,200
interest in fire, but they were still using it.

490
00:33:44,319 --> 00:33:48,359
Speaker 1: Teresa started looking into deliberate fire setting. It turned out

491
00:33:48,359 --> 00:33:50,839
that the field was vastly ignored by the rest of

492
00:33:50,920 --> 00:33:52,160
forensic psychology.

493
00:33:52,480 --> 00:33:56,279
Speaker 2: The field is probably about twenty years behind other fields

494
00:33:56,440 --> 00:34:01,880
of criminal behavior, such as our understanding of sexualis or violence.

495
00:34:02,680 --> 00:34:06,079
There are well over two hundred risk assessment tools for

496
00:34:06,240 --> 00:34:14,000
people who've committed violence, and there are no properly developed

497
00:34:14,079 --> 00:34:16,840
risk assessment tools for people who set deliberate fires. In fact,

498
00:34:16,840 --> 00:34:18,599
that's something I'm currently working.

499
00:34:18,360 --> 00:34:21,760
Speaker 1: On because Teresa is the go to specialist when it

500
00:34:21,800 --> 00:34:25,440
comes to fire setting. Years ago, she and three other

501
00:34:25,480 --> 00:34:30,239
researchers pioneered the multi trajectory of Adult fire setting theory,

502
00:34:30,920 --> 00:34:33,719
or as it's known in the field, the MTAF.

503
00:34:35,159 --> 00:34:40,599
Speaker 2: It talks about this theory the idea of fire setting scripts.

504
00:34:40,800 --> 00:34:43,960
Now all of us, you and me have a script

505
00:34:44,199 --> 00:34:47,000
about fire, and what that means is it's a cognitive

506
00:34:47,119 --> 00:34:50,559
rule that we learn, usually as children, about how and

507
00:34:50,599 --> 00:34:54,760
when fire should be used. With people who set deliberate fires,

508
00:34:54,800 --> 00:35:00,960
what we propose is that they have learnt an inappropriate firescript.

509
00:35:01,159 --> 00:35:03,719
Speaker 1: For example, Teresa once worked with a man who had

510
00:35:03,719 --> 00:35:06,639
grown up on a farm. The common practice on the

511
00:35:06,639 --> 00:35:09,079
farm was to set fire to any pest or rodent

512
00:35:09,119 --> 00:35:12,960
that was destroying the crops. Later in adulthood, when his

513
00:35:13,039 --> 00:35:16,239
wife became a pest to him, he decided to get

514
00:35:16,320 --> 00:35:18,599
rid of her much in the same way.

515
00:35:18,920 --> 00:35:22,599
Speaker 2: But I would argue that some individuals may learn that

516
00:35:22,679 --> 00:35:27,079
fire was the best way to instill fear or to

517
00:35:27,199 --> 00:35:32,039
punish another person for a supposed wrongdoing.

518
00:35:32,360 --> 00:35:35,400
Speaker 1: We don't know what Frank had learned as a child

519
00:35:35,480 --> 00:35:38,639
when it came to fire. He was never really given

520
00:35:38,639 --> 00:35:42,840
a full psychological evaluation due to his year long hospital stay.

521
00:35:43,559 --> 00:35:48,679
He also never claimed insanity. When Frank lived at Elizabeth's house,

522
00:35:48,800 --> 00:35:51,280
he had an attitude of taking the law into his

523
00:35:51,360 --> 00:35:55,239
own hands. There was that one time when he heard

524
00:35:55,239 --> 00:35:57,920
Elizabeth's mom talking about him on a private phone call,

525
00:35:58,679 --> 00:36:01,760
so he tore down the fence he'd built for her garden.

526
00:36:02,320 --> 00:36:05,800
What a petty and childish way to handle hearing someone

527
00:36:05,840 --> 00:36:09,840
talk behind your back. Teresa says that the biggest misconception

528
00:36:09,920 --> 00:36:12,760
about criminals who use fire as a weapon is that

529
00:36:13,119 --> 00:36:17,480
they're obsessed with it, that they love fire. But that's

530
00:36:17,519 --> 00:36:22,280
not really true. At least that's usually not true. Most

531
00:36:22,280 --> 00:36:25,199
people who set fires to cause harm fear it just

532
00:36:25,239 --> 00:36:26,360
as much as anyone else.

533
00:36:27,039 --> 00:36:29,239
Speaker 2: You show fire to any animal, it will kind of

534
00:36:29,280 --> 00:36:32,280
back away, you know what I mean. It's very powerful

535
00:36:32,280 --> 00:36:36,079
and evolutionary wise, we're kind of programmed to be scared

536
00:36:36,119 --> 00:36:36,559
of it.

537
00:36:37,239 --> 00:36:41,760
Speaker 1: The MTAF theory breaks down fire setters into five distinct

538
00:36:42,119 --> 00:36:47,519
personality types. Frank would fall under the worst one, the

539
00:36:47,639 --> 00:36:50,079
multifaceted fire setter.

540
00:36:50,159 --> 00:36:55,039
Speaker 2: And these are individuals characterized by two kind of prominent factors.

541
00:36:55,320 --> 00:36:58,599
They've got a fence, supportive attitudes that support criminal behavior,

542
00:36:59,119 --> 00:37:04,039
and also inappropriate fire interest. So they're really interested in fires,

543
00:37:04,320 --> 00:37:07,039
and they're really pro criminal behavior.

544
00:37:07,800 --> 00:37:10,800
Speaker 1: Frank didn't have a criminal record that we know of,

545
00:37:11,519 --> 00:37:16,079
but his responses to things not going his way were unhinged,

546
00:37:16,960 --> 00:37:20,840
like when he broke Elizabeth's mom's garden fencer. When he

547
00:37:20,920 --> 00:37:24,039
shattered the window after being told to move out. He

548
00:37:24,119 --> 00:37:27,440
had no control over himself. He was just running on raw,

549
00:37:27,679 --> 00:37:32,599
unchecked emotion. His life wasn't made up of planned actions,

550
00:37:32,639 --> 00:37:36,000
but only a chain of knee jerk reactions to the

551
00:37:36,000 --> 00:37:38,920
world around him. He was like a toddler.

552
00:37:39,880 --> 00:37:41,840
Speaker 2: And I would argue that the case that you've been

553
00:37:41,880 --> 00:37:46,480
talking about sits somewhere between the multifaceted the last one

554
00:37:46,519 --> 00:37:49,840
I've just mentioned, and the grievance subtype, but maybe doesn't

555
00:37:49,840 --> 00:37:55,480
fit them exactly. It shows you the breadth of motivators

556
00:37:55,599 --> 00:37:57,360
lying behind fire setting.

557
00:37:58,039 --> 00:38:03,079
Speaker 1: Beyond Frank's emotional immature, he lacked stability in his personal life.

558
00:38:03,719 --> 00:38:06,840
Frank was in his thirties, and he had no family,

559
00:38:06,960 --> 00:38:11,159
no career, and no home of his own. He was

560
00:38:11,400 --> 00:38:15,840
in arrested development, living one day at a time and

561
00:38:15,880 --> 00:38:22,280
avoiding adult responsibilities like so many do these days. Not

562
00:38:22,320 --> 00:38:26,800
only was Frank vengeful, but he was also stupid. He

563
00:38:26,880 --> 00:38:31,840
packed his satchel full of lighters, gasoline, and charcoal briquettes

564
00:38:31,920 --> 00:38:35,400
with a loose game plan to murder Elizabeth by setting

565
00:38:35,440 --> 00:38:38,320
her on fire. He didn't know anything about the way

566
00:38:38,360 --> 00:38:42,239
fumes worked and ended up blowing himself up too. There's

567
00:38:42,280 --> 00:38:47,840
a poetic justice to his disfigurement. Somehow, there's art here

568
00:38:47,960 --> 00:38:52,599
in all the pain and horror. By the time he

569
00:38:52,679 --> 00:38:56,519
was well enough to be discharged from the hospital, District

570
00:38:56,559 --> 00:38:59,519
Attorney John Flynn and his team had already received a

571
00:38:59,559 --> 00:39:03,960
warrant for his arrest and an indictment from the grand jury.

572
00:39:04,639 --> 00:39:09,159
Speaker 3: We then went to the hospital, took a judge with

573
00:39:09,239 --> 00:39:14,159
us to the hospital, and we arraigned him in his

574
00:39:14,400 --> 00:39:20,159
room in the hospital, and that's when the legal proceedings started.

575
00:39:20,880 --> 00:39:24,519
Speaker 1: Frank was facing first degree murder charges for the intentional

576
00:39:24,599 --> 00:39:30,199
death of Elizabeth Bell. When prosecutors visited his hospital room,

577
00:39:30,559 --> 00:39:34,800
they gave him a choice, plead guilty or go to trial.

578
00:39:35,920 --> 00:39:39,360
So he lawyered up, ready to go to court. Waste

579
00:39:39,400 --> 00:39:44,360
everybody's time and money, I might add, But according to Frank,

580
00:39:45,039 --> 00:39:49,840
everyone had it wrong. Only he knew what had happened

581
00:39:49,840 --> 00:39:54,519
in Elizabeth's bedroom that night, and when he finally spoke,

582
00:39:55,679 --> 00:40:02,679
his words would leave everyone stunned. Elizabeth had started the fire.

583
00:40:35,239 --> 00:40:39,280
Elizabeth Bell had burned alive in her East Buffalo home

584
00:40:40,079 --> 00:40:42,639
for a month. She'd been fighting with her ex boyfriend,

585
00:40:42,679 --> 00:40:47,159
Frank Brett Junior over their breakup. One afternoon, she took

586
00:40:47,199 --> 00:40:50,400
his beloved electric bike and left it on the curb

587
00:40:50,519 --> 00:40:54,280
for someone else to take. She texted Frank a photo

588
00:40:54,320 --> 00:40:58,239
of his bike, and he lost his mind. He threatened

589
00:40:58,239 --> 00:41:03,039
to burn her whole fucking and even told his boss

590
00:41:03,039 --> 00:41:06,119
how angry he was that his bike was gone. Frank

591
00:41:06,159 --> 00:41:12,639
had packed a satchel of charcoal, briquettes, lighter fluid, and gasoline.

592
00:41:12,760 --> 00:41:15,079
Then he went over to Elizabeth's house at three point

593
00:41:15,079 --> 00:41:20,920
thirty in the morning. Within minutes, her bedroom exploded, Elizabeth

594
00:41:21,000 --> 00:41:23,840
was burned alive, and Frank escaped death by the skin

595
00:41:23,880 --> 00:41:27,320
of his teeth, speaking of which there wasn't much left.

596
00:41:28,320 --> 00:41:31,920
After a nearly year long hospital stay with burns on

597
00:41:32,119 --> 00:41:35,679
ninety percent of his body, Frank was ready for court.

598
00:41:36,679 --> 00:41:41,920
He was a disfigured monster with clubs for hands, melted ears,

599
00:41:42,599 --> 00:41:45,400
and a big bald star on his head where his

600
00:41:45,480 --> 00:41:49,079
hair used to grow. But Frank said that he didn't

601
00:41:49,360 --> 00:41:54,519
start the fire. Elizabeth did. He claimed that he only

602
00:41:54,559 --> 00:41:57,960
went there to talk about the bike. She woke up,

603
00:41:58,519 --> 00:42:02,800
their fight escalated, and then she was the one who

604
00:42:02,840 --> 00:42:07,559
threw the gasoline on him. She was the one who

605
00:42:07,599 --> 00:42:14,559
struck the lighter. It seemed a little, I don't know, bullshitty.

606
00:42:14,679 --> 00:42:18,880
But then Elizabeth's brother said something that cast a dark

607
00:42:19,000 --> 00:42:21,480
shadow of doubt on the whole trial.

608
00:42:22,199 --> 00:42:27,039
Speaker 3: When the police interviewed the brother. At the end of

609
00:42:27,159 --> 00:42:32,719
the brother's statement, the brother made a comment along the

610
00:42:32,760 --> 00:42:37,880
lines of, you know, I didn't go upstairs. I didn't

611
00:42:37,920 --> 00:42:41,119
see what happened. I didn't see her do it, you know,

612
00:42:41,360 --> 00:42:44,800
I don't know what happened. Maybe she lit him on fire.

613
00:42:45,320 --> 00:42:48,760
Speaker 1: It was such an odd thing to hear. The possibility

614
00:42:48,880 --> 00:42:53,039
of it being true lingered in the air. The police

615
00:42:53,559 --> 00:42:56,760
may have been focused on the wrong person the entire time,

616
00:42:57,599 --> 00:43:02,920
trying to convict an innocent victim instead of a cold

617
00:43:02,960 --> 00:43:07,159
hearted killer. Frank might have been the real victim in

618
00:43:07,239 --> 00:43:11,119
all of this. After all, it was Elizabeth's mother who

619
00:43:11,159 --> 00:43:15,360
admitted that her daughter had a sharp tongue and she

620
00:43:15,400 --> 00:43:18,679
could say things that would cut you to the bone.

621
00:43:18,840 --> 00:43:21,039
There were only two people in the bedroom that night,

622
00:43:21,760 --> 00:43:24,440
and one of them was dead. The other one was

623
00:43:24,480 --> 00:43:25,920
facing life in prison.

624
00:43:26,440 --> 00:43:28,960
Speaker 3: Why the brother would say that. I have no idea

625
00:43:29,519 --> 00:43:32,599
not to be disparaging of the brother, because he lost

626
00:43:32,639 --> 00:43:36,079
his sister. It was traumatic. So I'm not trying to

627
00:43:36,079 --> 00:43:39,440
beat the brother up here, but let's be honest. He

628
00:43:39,559 --> 00:43:42,079
sees this guy walk in the house at three o'clock.

629
00:43:41,719 --> 00:43:42,239
Speaker 4: In the morning.

630
00:43:42,760 --> 00:43:46,440
Speaker 3: He moved out a month earlier. If I was a brother,

631
00:43:46,480 --> 00:43:48,400
I'd be like, what the hell you do in my

632
00:43:48,480 --> 00:43:51,400
house at three in the morning, all right, But he

633
00:43:51,440 --> 00:43:54,280
didn't think anything other and let him walk upstairs, you know.

634
00:43:54,480 --> 00:43:57,480
So again I'm not blaming him, don't get me wrong.

635
00:43:57,880 --> 00:44:01,360
But again he did make the meant to the police

636
00:44:01,599 --> 00:44:03,039
in his interview.

637
00:44:03,159 --> 00:44:06,719
Speaker 1: And that comment was what the defense hung their hat on.

638
00:44:07,800 --> 00:44:11,719
Frank's trial didn't start until twenty twenty three, almost five

639
00:44:11,800 --> 00:44:15,760
years after the murder, and he had acquired very good

640
00:44:16,039 --> 00:44:20,280
defense lawyers. They fought hard to create reasonable doubt for

641
00:44:20,400 --> 00:44:25,360
the jury. Frank sat motionless in the courtroom. The jurors

642
00:44:25,519 --> 00:44:28,960
tried to focus on the case, but their eyes kept

643
00:44:29,039 --> 00:44:33,480
drifting towards his grotesque mutilations and scars.

644
00:44:34,440 --> 00:44:38,760
Speaker 3: The defense lawyers made the argument that she was drunk.

645
00:44:39,440 --> 00:44:43,000
She had a lot of alcohol in her system. The

646
00:44:43,039 --> 00:44:46,159
defense lawyers said that at trial that she also had

647
00:44:46,199 --> 00:44:48,599
drugs in her system, but there was no proof of

648
00:44:48,599 --> 00:44:51,159
that at all. There was proof of alcohol in her system, though,

649
00:44:51,320 --> 00:44:54,559
to be fairer, and so they made the argument that

650
00:44:55,079 --> 00:44:57,719
she got up in a drunken super They got into

651
00:44:57,719 --> 00:45:01,599
an argument she dumped the gas on him, she lit

652
00:45:01,719 --> 00:45:04,519
him on fire, and that's what happened.

653
00:45:05,000 --> 00:45:09,039
Speaker 1: Frank's defense not only grossly disparaged Elizabeth by claiming she

654
00:45:09,159 --> 00:45:13,679
was on drugs, but it crumbled against the physical evidence.

655
00:45:14,519 --> 00:45:20,280
Speaker 3: His DNA was on the Hawaiian punch bottle and the lighter,

656
00:45:20,559 --> 00:45:24,480
and he left the Hawaiian punch bottle in the apartment

657
00:45:24,840 --> 00:45:27,480
and the lighter. The lighter was found on the stairs.

658
00:45:28,119 --> 00:45:32,000
Speaker 1: There was another detail too. Besides the threats Frank made

659
00:45:32,559 --> 00:45:35,679
telling Elizabeth that he would burn her and her family,

660
00:45:36,719 --> 00:45:39,320
he also texted his mother right before he got to

661
00:45:39,360 --> 00:45:44,840
Elizabeth's house that night. He wrote, I love you, Mama always.

662
00:45:45,960 --> 00:45:48,360
It was ominous, to say the least.

663
00:45:49,000 --> 00:45:54,440
Speaker 3: He left a trail of blood, he left the trail

664
00:45:54,840 --> 00:46:01,280
of burnt flesh, and he left the trail of witness.

665
00:46:00,920 --> 00:46:05,800
Speaker 1: And all those witnesses took this stand in court, the

666
00:46:05,800 --> 00:46:09,199
first responders who all heard Frank say mode of an opportunity,

667
00:46:09,960 --> 00:46:14,519
the neighbor who pulled Frank out of his closet, Elizabeth's brother,

668
00:46:15,119 --> 00:46:20,119
Frank's boss, and all the medical experts who examined her body.

669
00:46:21,000 --> 00:46:24,440
Oh yeah, and of course they had Paul Simonian, the

670
00:46:24,480 --> 00:46:27,079
fire marshal who helped crack the case.

671
00:46:27,639 --> 00:46:30,199
Speaker 4: I remember when I finished testifying, I walked down. As

672
00:46:30,199 --> 00:46:32,639
I walked out, Elizabeth's mother was in the back pew,

673
00:46:33,039 --> 00:46:34,960
and she reached over and grabbed my hand and just

674
00:46:34,960 --> 00:46:35,679
said thank you.

675
00:46:36,360 --> 00:46:41,320
Speaker 3: In this case, he admitted he was there. He admitted

676
00:46:41,840 --> 00:46:48,280
Elizabeth died, He admitted that he sent these text messages. Okay,

677
00:46:48,400 --> 00:46:51,760
he just didn't admit to how it went down in

678
00:46:51,800 --> 00:46:57,480
the bedroom, which again that's very, very unusual. But it

679
00:46:57,559 --> 00:46:59,840
obviously thanked God it didn't work.

680
00:47:00,920 --> 00:47:04,400
Speaker 1: Maybe if Frank had pleaded guilty to the obvious, he

681
00:47:04,480 --> 00:47:08,840
might have gained some leniency from the judge, but he

682
00:47:08,920 --> 00:47:13,599
stuck to his lie. Forensic psychologist and fire expert Teresa

683
00:47:13,679 --> 00:47:17,880
Gannon had some theories as to why if.

684
00:47:17,679 --> 00:47:20,079
Speaker 2: You don't want to admit to yourself that you set

685
00:47:20,119 --> 00:47:24,519
the fire or commits the crime or whatever. Also, you

686
00:47:24,559 --> 00:47:27,719
can lose a significant amount of social support if you

687
00:47:27,840 --> 00:47:30,400
do admit that you did do it. So by remaining

688
00:47:30,440 --> 00:47:33,639
in denial, you know, you still get visitors or people

689
00:47:33,679 --> 00:47:36,280
still believe you might not have done it, whereas as

690
00:47:36,320 --> 00:47:38,559
soon as you admit it, of course, you might lose

691
00:47:38,679 --> 00:47:41,119
the last remnants of social support.

692
00:47:40,800 --> 00:47:41,280
Speaker 4: That you have.

693
00:47:42,159 --> 00:47:44,559
Speaker 1: Maybe he was afraid of losing what little love and

694
00:47:44,599 --> 00:47:47,239
support he had left in the world, and that is

695
00:47:47,280 --> 00:47:51,840
why Frank refused to accept responsibility. Maybe he was just

696
00:47:51,920 --> 00:47:56,199
lying to himself for comfort, telling himself something that he

697
00:47:56,280 --> 00:48:01,039
knew deep down wasn't true. If he admits to this

698
00:48:01,239 --> 00:48:05,880
heinous thing, then maybe it wasn't his fault that he's

699
00:48:06,000 --> 00:48:10,840
a disfigured monster in prison. But by denying his own accountability,

700
00:48:11,760 --> 00:48:15,840
Frank lost the little shred of dignity he had left.

701
00:48:16,760 --> 00:48:22,800
Now he's just a pathetic killer, a sick liar.

702
00:48:23,639 --> 00:48:27,199
Speaker 3: To be honest with you, this really wasn't rocket science,

703
00:48:27,719 --> 00:48:30,199
you know. It wasn't really a tough case to prove.

704
00:48:31,159 --> 00:48:35,440
Ninety nine out of one hundred homicide trials take a week,

705
00:48:35,960 --> 00:48:39,320
maybe two weeks at the most. Okay, so this was

706
00:48:39,360 --> 00:48:44,119
a typical homicide trial. Took about a week and the

707
00:48:44,239 --> 00:48:48,800
jury was out like three or four hours and came

708
00:48:48,880 --> 00:48:53,079
back with a guilty verdict on the intentional murder, and

709
00:48:53,199 --> 00:48:57,159
the judge gave him the max, which was twenty five

710
00:48:57,199 --> 00:49:01,039
the life. He drew a tough judge him. Quite frankly,

711
00:49:01,679 --> 00:49:05,679
he drew the best judge in the building from my perspective,

712
00:49:06,840 --> 00:49:11,039
because this judge is the hardest judge on criminals.

713
00:49:11,880 --> 00:49:16,639
Speaker 1: Frank was sent to green Haven Correctional Facility in Stormville,

714
00:49:16,639 --> 00:49:20,400
New York. His earliest possible release date is April of

715
00:49:20,480 --> 00:49:24,719
twenty forty three. But for now he sits in that

716
00:49:24,840 --> 00:49:29,000
prison in his wheelchair, wearing a star of David and

717
00:49:29,119 --> 00:49:34,840
Kippa or Yamica, claiming he's found religion. We contemplated reaching

718
00:49:34,880 --> 00:49:38,880
out to Frank, but then we decided not to after

719
00:49:38,960 --> 00:49:43,440
speaking with John Flynn. Frank is so obviously guilty that

720
00:49:43,480 --> 00:49:47,360
we didn't want to entertain his lives. But another network did,

721
00:49:48,159 --> 00:49:51,679
and we'll just tell you what he claims happened on

722
00:49:51,760 --> 00:49:55,079
that very day. Frank says that on the night it

723
00:49:55,119 --> 00:49:59,559
all happened, he and Elizabeth had a brutal fight. She

724
00:49:59,599 --> 00:50:02,760
had conf him about being abused by a friend at

725
00:50:02,760 --> 00:50:05,559
the age of eight, and in a moment of cruelty,

726
00:50:06,280 --> 00:50:10,199
he told her the abuse was her fault. He wanted

727
00:50:10,199 --> 00:50:13,719
to wound her, just as she had wounded him with

728
00:50:13,800 --> 00:50:18,239
her words time and time again. He claimed. He turned

729
00:50:18,239 --> 00:50:21,960
to leave, then something hit him over the head. The

730
00:50:22,000 --> 00:50:24,239
next memory he had was waking up on the floor,

731
00:50:24,280 --> 00:50:29,039
surrounded by smoke and flames. He says he immediately became

732
00:50:29,159 --> 00:50:33,039
concerned about Elizabeth's daughter and pushed his way into her

733
00:50:33,119 --> 00:50:37,679
little bedroom, heroically grabbing her from her bed and rushing

734
00:50:37,719 --> 00:50:44,599
downstairs to safety. Then he fled, But that's all completely untrue.

735
00:50:44,639 --> 00:50:48,679
In case you haven't figured it out, Elizabeth's mom, her daughter,

736
00:50:48,840 --> 00:50:51,840
and her brother all confirmed that things happened the way

737
00:50:52,159 --> 00:50:57,360
the prosecution argued it did. Despite the cold, hard evidence,

738
00:50:57,960 --> 00:51:02,239
Frank continues to deny what he did. He continues to

739
00:51:02,360 --> 00:51:08,199
believe his own lie. But we do not We know

740
00:51:08,280 --> 00:51:12,519
what he did. We have brains. He poured gasoline on

741
00:51:12,599 --> 00:51:14,960
a twenty eight year old mother and burned her alive

742
00:51:15,079 --> 00:51:19,519
because she got rid of his bike. It's nothing but

743
00:51:19,679 --> 00:51:24,719
pure evil, demonic if you really think about it.

744
00:51:25,440 --> 00:51:28,239
Speaker 4: No, I didn't feel any satisfaction that he was guilty

745
00:51:28,280 --> 00:51:33,079
because it's it's not a win win anywhere. Elizabeth lost

746
00:51:33,079 --> 00:51:40,639
her life, Frank is physically mentally damaged, His freedom's taken

747
00:51:40,639 --> 00:51:44,440
away from him. There was no satisfaction that he was found.

748
00:51:44,679 --> 00:51:46,519
I mean, he just had to be held accountable for

749
00:51:46,599 --> 00:51:47,119
what he did.

750
00:51:47,800 --> 00:51:49,599
Speaker 3: You get to the point where you do something like

751
00:51:49,679 --> 00:51:53,719
that and you're not thinking clearly, obviously you're you're you're

752
00:51:53,760 --> 00:51:59,320
an enraged, psychopathic killer. And I use that word psychopath,

753
00:51:59,559 --> 00:52:02,519
you know, not in a medical sense, but in a

754
00:52:02,559 --> 00:52:09,199
just a human sense, that you are a sick killer.

755
00:52:09,679 --> 00:52:14,280
There are very few smart criminals out there there are some,

756
00:52:14,599 --> 00:52:16,440
but you know he wasn't one of them.

757
00:52:16,480 --> 00:52:23,960
Speaker 1: Obviously, fire is a force beyond human control. It's ancient, primal,

758
00:52:24,639 --> 00:52:31,440
and merciless. Once unleashed, it obeys no one, not even

759
00:52:31,480 --> 00:52:34,679
the man who strikes the match. Frank thought he was

760
00:52:34,719 --> 00:52:38,440
in charge of that fire, but like everything else in

761
00:52:38,519 --> 00:52:43,400
his life, it was wrong. Frank's actions that night were

762
00:52:43,760 --> 00:52:48,280
like a game where he moved blindly, reacting instead of thinking,

763
00:52:49,119 --> 00:52:53,000
never seeing more than one step ahead. Even the contents

764
00:52:53,039 --> 00:52:57,599
of his satchel define his stupidity. Charcoal briquettes, I mean,

765
00:52:57,960 --> 00:53:00,800
what's your plan? Are you starting a barbecue? You ever

766
00:53:01,000 --> 00:53:02,880
like charcoal briquettes? You know how long it takes to

767
00:53:02,960 --> 00:53:06,880
light charcoal briquettes. What kind of a fucking idiot brings

768
00:53:06,920 --> 00:53:10,119
that to a murder scene to lay them on Elizabeth

769
00:53:10,119 --> 00:53:12,760
and start a campfire on her? I don't know if

770
00:53:12,760 --> 00:53:14,679
there's a word in the English language to define how

771
00:53:14,719 --> 00:53:18,119
stupid that is. Maybe he thought he'd use them to

772
00:53:18,159 --> 00:53:22,400
start a small fire downstairs, to in fact burn the

773
00:53:22,440 --> 00:53:25,400
whole fucking fat family down like he wanted to, but

774
00:53:26,440 --> 00:53:28,880
changed his mind when he saw her brother was still awake.

775
00:53:29,719 --> 00:53:33,199
The lighter fluid the gasoline. That makes sense, I guess,

776
00:53:34,199 --> 00:53:39,360
but I'll never understand why those briquettes were in his bag. Never,

777
00:53:40,360 --> 00:53:44,119
the guy must have never started a barbecue in his

778
00:53:44,400 --> 00:53:46,239
entire adult life.

779
00:53:47,039 --> 00:53:47,519
Speaker 4: Interesting.

780
00:53:48,559 --> 00:53:52,719
Speaker 1: There's another question that lingers too. He saw that her

781
00:53:52,760 --> 00:53:56,159
brother was awake, and yet Frank went forth with his

782
00:53:56,199 --> 00:53:59,920
plan to set Elizabeth on fire. Just really let that

783
00:54:00,119 --> 00:54:05,000
ruminate for a minute. Frank was not afraid of getting caught,

784
00:54:05,920 --> 00:54:08,079
because if he was, he would have turned around at

785
00:54:08,119 --> 00:54:12,199
the first sight of a witness. Instead, he just plowed ahead,

786
00:54:13,039 --> 00:54:17,360
and like every other insane choice he's ever made leading

787
00:54:17,400 --> 00:54:20,599
up to that fire, his final move was just as

788
00:54:20,639 --> 00:54:26,480
short sighted. He was a man ruled by unregulated emotion,

789
00:54:27,480 --> 00:54:34,400
a creature of impulse rather than intellect, rage rather than reason.

790
00:54:35,599 --> 00:54:38,639
You know, anybody like that, because there's a lot of

791
00:54:38,679 --> 00:54:43,079
people like that around in my day to day kind

792
00:54:43,079 --> 00:54:47,960
of makes you think, doesn't it. Frank, however, didn't think.

793
00:54:48,559 --> 00:54:52,159
He didn't understand that fire wouldn't stay contained, that it

794
00:54:52,159 --> 00:54:55,559
wouldn't follow his orders, that the fumes would turn that

795
00:54:55,639 --> 00:55:00,000
little bedroom into a bomb. He believed he was orchestrated

796
00:55:00,239 --> 00:55:05,719
some grand act of revenge over his bike, when in reality,

797
00:55:06,159 --> 00:55:10,280
he was just an idiot, igniting the fuse to his

798
00:55:10,360 --> 00:55:16,480
own destruction. John Flynn was right. Frank wasn't just a murderer.

799
00:55:16,519 --> 00:55:19,760
He was a fool, a man too wrapped up in

800
00:55:19,800 --> 00:55:23,679
his own bitterness and failures to see the inevitable consequences

801
00:55:24,519 --> 00:55:28,639
of his own actions, A man who, for all his hatred,

802
00:55:29,320 --> 00:55:33,440
ended up punishing himself more than anyone else ever could.

803
00:55:34,079 --> 00:55:39,960
How shakespearean is that Elizabeth Bell died in agony, her

804
00:55:40,000 --> 00:55:44,119
final moments spent in a nightmare no human should ever endure.

805
00:55:45,119 --> 00:55:50,320
But at least her pain ended, at least she's free

806
00:55:50,639 --> 00:55:54,119
from it. Frank, on the other hand, has to live

807
00:55:55,119 --> 00:55:58,960
with the aftermath. He has to wake up every day

808
00:56:00,159 --> 00:56:05,599
with the scars and the missing hands, with the mangled face,

809
00:56:07,039 --> 00:56:11,639
living in a reminder of his own stupidity. The man

810
00:56:11,679 --> 00:56:15,639
who thought he was in control but ended up losing

811
00:56:16,119 --> 00:56:23,079
everything in his final failure, He created a hell on

812
00:56:23,199 --> 00:56:28,199
earth just for him, and it will haunt him for

813
00:56:28,320 --> 00:56:41,639
the rest of his life. Oh geez, don't leave yet,

814
00:56:41,800 --> 00:56:45,519
your lollipops. We're gonna load up the store with a

815
00:56:45,559 --> 00:56:49,119
bunch of additional merch from my garage, so go check

816
00:56:49,159 --> 00:56:51,960
it out. It's gonna be on deep Deep discount. I

817
00:56:51,960 --> 00:56:54,119
need to get rid of it. Lots of people are

818
00:56:54,159 --> 00:56:56,519
shit stuff, lots of cool stuff. Just go look go look.

819
00:56:56,559 --> 00:56:59,599
It's like super super super cheap, Stay Safe

820
00:57:04,880 --> 00:57:05,159
Speaker 2: Port