How An _Accident_ Was Proven To Be A Mass Murder _ The New Detectives

A house fire kills a family of four. The firefighters call it a tragic accident. A space heater near the Christmas tree. The insurance company pays the claim. Then a forensic pathologist notices something wrong with the children's airways. They did not die from smoke. They died from suffocation hours before the fire started.In this episode of The New Detectives, the groundbreaking Discovery Channel series that aired from 1996 to 2004 and inspired CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, forensic experts demonstrate how arson investigators distinguish between accidental fires and murder scenes . The case of Cameron Todd Willingham, executed in Texas for the arson murder of his three children, is now considered one of the most infamous wrongful convictions in American history. The fire science used to convict him has since been debunked. His last words: I am an innocent man convicted of a crime I did not commit.Other cases have gone the opposite direction. A man who claimed his wife died in a car accident was convicted when forensic engineers proved the brakes had been cut. A woman who said her husband drowned in a fishing accident was convicted when a diver found an anchor rope tied around his ankle.Turn down the lights, put on your headphones, and press play because the accident scene is the killer's favorite stage. Forensic science is the audience that refuses to applaud.