a husband returns home to find his wife dead on the living room floor; he tells first responders she committed suicide . After the fire, the police investigation determined that the fire had been started using some form of a liquid accelerant. Cameron Todd Willingham (January 9, 1968 February 17, 2004) was an American man who was convicted and executed for the murder of his three young children by arson at the family home in Corsicana, Texas, on December 23, 1991. . [16] However, those not associated with the case paint a different picture of Willingham. Nine nationally renowned, independent experts have reviewed the case in the last five years and found that the forensic analysis was wrong. The front porch was the only place where an accelerant was verified by laboratory tests, and a photograph taken of the house before the fire showed that a charcoal grill was there. The police then began to suspect that Willingham was a murderer. Cameron Todd Willingham lying in his cell in 1994. Baird has twice sat on courts considering Willingham's appeal and once won an award from the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. Webb later recanted his recantation. Aftermath of the fire [Texas State Fire Marshal's Office] On December 23, 1991, fire gutted the home where Cameron Todd Willingham, then 23, lived with his wife, Stacy Kuykendall, and the couple's three daughters: two-year-old Amber Kuykendall and one . Then, after he had been sentenced to death and executed, other people began to say Cameron Todd Willingham was wrongfully convicted and that the court put an innocent man to death. She also previously campaigned for his release and wrote to the governor of Texas, I know him in ways that no one else does when it comes to our children. Ken Light. Mothers love their children and always will, no matter what happens in their lives I understand why she does not want to face the facts of what he did to our girls.. "What they are interested in is finding the poster boy for the abolition of the death penalty," Bradley said. According to a tape recording of the conversation, Kuykendall made it clear that she still believed that Willingham was innocent and that he had no motive to hurt their children. [16] In a 2009 article discussing the reasons why Willingham was found guilty, Jackson recalled witness statements establishing that Willingham was overheard whispering to his deceased older daughter at the funeral home, "You're not the one who was supposed to die." Cameron Todd Willingham - Alchetron, the free social encyclopedia 5 Things To Know About The Cameron Todd Willingham Case | Crime History In the case, Willingham refused an offer to plead guilty in return for a life sentence. Jailhouse informants are viewed with skepticism in the justice system, so much so that some jurisdictions have restrictions against their use. It was a heartbreaking, heartless death sentence. stacy willingham married. In the fall of 2004, just months after Willinghams execution, the ChicagoTribune reporters Steve Mills and Maurice Possley visited Kuykendall at her house and asked her if Willingham had, in fact, confessed to her. Dal momento che Willingham's Nell'esecuzione del 2004 , sono sorte importanti polemiche sulla legittimit del verdetto di colpevolezza e sull'interpretazione . What Stacy Kuykendall Said - The StandDown Texas Project Throughout the process, Stacy Kuykendall, Willingham's former wife and the mother of the three victims, has maintained that he was guilty of the murders. Cameron Todd Willingham - Wikipedia Kuykendall and Willingham had a tumultuous past and both had come from troubled backgrounds. The Big Little Lies actress, 52, plays Elizabeth Gilbert in Trial by Fire, the real-life ordinary citizen who took on the case of Cameron Todd Willingham as he sat on death row. 2023 Innocence Project. There is credible and reliable new information that Willingham confessed to his ex-wife. October 27, 2009, 12:00 AM, CDT. Killed in the fire were Willingham's three daughters: two-year-old Amber Louise Kuykendall, and one-year-old twins, Karmen Diane Willingham and Kameron Marie Willingham. David Grann: Stacy Speaks | The New Yorker Stacy Kuykendall, Willingham's then-wife and the mother of his three daughters, was not home at the time of the fire. AUSTIN, Tex. By Maurice Possley, The Marshall Project. [26] Neither responded to Willingham's appeals. Willinghams statements about the fire were inconsistent. Perry on Willingham: He was a 'bad man' - News - The Austin Chronicle NEW YORK DAILY NEWS. After Todd was arrested and told his family that he didnt do this, I had to believe that he was telling us the truth. Hes just not. She also said the prosecution was motivated to find anyone to blame. Cameron Todd Willingham's Ex-Wife Stacy Kuykendall Says Texas Shouldn't Pardon Him [EXCLUSIVE] | HuffPost . [20] While on death row, Willingham was initially incarcerated in the Ellis Unit,[1] and later in the Polunsky Unit.[21]. In her most recent statement explaining why she had once defended Willingham, she said. Her statement is curious. Two prosecution experts who testified that Willingham was a sociopath had never met him; one was expelled from his professional association three years later for unethical behavior. Bradley was appointed to the science commission post by Gov. stacy willingham married They married a few months before the fire and were a significant part of each others lives. In a rebuttal, Grann wrote, "If the arson investigators had concluded that there was no scientific evidence that a crime had occurred as the top fire investigators in the country have now determined Willingham's words at the funeral would surely be viewed as a sign that he was tormented by the fact that he had survived without saving his children. [citation needed] Willingham was executed by lethal injection on February 17, 2004, at the Texas State Penitentiary in Huntsville. He told me he was sorry and that he hoped that I could forgive him one day. Willinghams ex-wife said that he hit her but never tried to hurt the children. Do you, This was definitely in IL because we are friends with, Hi. Not long after their encounter, a leading fire investigator, Dr. Gerald Hurst, completed his review of the original investigation and concluded, as other leading fire investigators would in the years to come, that there was no scientific basis to determine that Willingham had set the fire, and that the original fire investigators had based their theories on discredited methods. "[7], In June 2009, the State of Texas ordered a re-examination of the case. As he recalled it, their conversation with Kuykendall centered directly on the question of Willinghams alleged confession. Willingham had escaped the fire with bare feet and no burn marks. The forensic analysis is what determined that a crime had been committed in the first place. He told me that he believed I was going to but he couldnt let that happen. Or try to make you believe them just because a movie made THEM look bad. The couple's three children died in a fire Dec. 23, 1991, at the family's Corsicana, Texas, home. Something doesnt, No , the murder happened in Ohio . "[16] Grann, however, said fire investigators who reviewed the case told him that "Willingham's first-degree and second-degree burns were consistent with being in a fire before the moment of 'flashover' that is, when everything in a room suddenly ignites. Cherry Avenue True Crime on Apple Podcasts But she said in an interview that was untrue. KERA's Bill Zeeble reports the . I said that I was going to divorce you. Based on a 2009 investigative report by David Grann in The New Yorker, Trial by Fire concerns Cameron Todd Willingham, a Texan man who was convicted for the murder of his three children by arson . [25], Hurst's report was sent to governor Rick Perry's office, as well as the Board of Pardons and Paroles along with Willingham's appeal for clemency. Willingham ex-wife featured on streaming series | News The investigators also found charring under the aluminum front doorjamb, which they believed was a further indication of a liquid accelerant and tested positive for such an accelerant in the area of the front door. They didnt care who. She said, I dont think he did it. A spokeswoman for Governor Perry said he had weighed the "totality of the issues that led to (Willingham's) conviction." State District Judge Charles Baird delayed the hearing Wednesday in the case of Cameron Todd Willingham after prosecutors moved for Baird's recusal. He wanted her help in his appeal for clemency and also to say goodbye. According to Brandice Barbee, "All I could see was smoke. She reversed herself shortly before his 2004 execution, declaring that she now considered him guilty for murdering their 2-year-old daughter and her 1-year . Other witnesses at Willinghams trial provided contradictory statements about Willinghams behavior after the fire, but those statements were not evidence that a crime had taken place. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals denied Willingham a writ of habeas corpus a month before his execution. Cameron Todd Willingham, who went by Todd, with his wife, Stacy. That was until she spoke to . David Grann: Stacy Speaks: News Desk : The New Yorker. Rick Perry had done all he could to justify the 2004 execution of inmate Cameron Todd Willingham . Stacy Kuykendall, Self: Evil Lives Here. Willingham Family's Bid to Clear Name Frames Execution Debate - The New She was out shopping for Christmas presents at a thrift shop. List of people executed in Texas, 20002009, List of people executed in the United States in 2004, List of wrongful convictions in the United States, "Trial by Fire: Did Texas execute an innocent man? Kuykendall played a major role in Willinghams life and fate, but in the movie version she is quite prominent. I dont blame Todds stepmom for fighting for her son, she continued to The Huffington Post in 2012. On Jan. 8, the night before Willingham's 24th birthday, he was arrested by a SWAT team. His testimony has been criticized as contentious for several reasons. A jury in Corsicana, south of Dallas, convicted Willingham of capital murder in 1992. Stacy Kuykendall Willinghamgirlslivesmattered - Facebook Cameron Todd Willingham, 36, was executed by lethal injection on 17 February 2004 in Huntsville, Texas for the murder of his three children. Willingham said that he never encountered Amber in those initial moments and theorized that Amber had left the kids room via a hall that led both to the front door and to another entrance to his bedroom and thats how he missed her. Murder of his three young children by Cameron Todd Willingham examined [1][19], At trial, the fire investigator Vasquez testified there were three points of origin for the fire, which indicated that the fire was "intentionally set by human hands.