CROFTON, MD — Jeffrey W. Pride of the Illinois State Fire Marshal's Office, winner of the 2014 Investigator of the Year award from IAAI, is featured in the
June 2014 podcast on CFITrainer.Net®. In the podcast, Pride details how he linked a rash of incendiary fires in central and southern Illinois to two individuals who were members of a volunteer fire department in Cumberland County, IL. These individuals were persons of interest early in the investigation, but it took time to develop enough information to present a case to the state's attorney for prosecution. After sticking with the investigation for four years, breaks in the case allowed Pride to obtain a warrant for GPS tracking of the suspects' vehicles and to deploy video surveillance equipment. Further evidence was obtained from those methods and Pride then re-interviewed the primary suspect, who confessed to setting a total of 26 fires. Both suspects were convicted on multiple counts and sentenced to long prison terms.
To hear more details about the investigation, as well as Pride's advice on how to stick with cases like this and bring them to a successful conclusion, listen to the
June 2014 CFITrainer.Net® podcast.