Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:09):
Now The Violence in the Valley podcastwith retired Parkersburg Chief of Police Bob Newell
and others. Brought to you byInterestate Insurance three generations of insurance Excellence.
The High Valley has experienced arson relatedmurders for many reasons over the decades.
The one case stands out as oneof the most senseless murders, in which
(00:32):
the motive was to hide information thatmay have merely caused embarrassment to an acquaintance
of the victims. In March nineteenninety five, a tragic fire occurred in
Washington County community of Waterford, Ohio. The small, quiet town has a
population of less than five hundred peopleand the crime rate is well below the
state and national average. Therefore,when the fire occurred, there was no
(00:55):
reason to believe it was anything otherthan a terrible accident. Mother and her
seventeen month old son were found deadinside the mobile home in which they lived.
The bodies of the mother, KimberlyFulton, and her son, Daniel,
were found at opposite ends of thetrailer. The death required an investigation
by the State Fire Marshal's Office,as did all fires with fatalities. Samples
(01:19):
of debris were collected by investigators fromthe point of origin and sent to the
state laboratory for analysis to determine ifthere were traces of gasoline or some other
accelerant. Lab examinations found no suchevidence. The fire had burned for a
long time before the volunteer fire departmentarrived. In many cases, liquid accelerants
are completely consumed in long burning fires, so the absence of any trace of
(01:42):
fuels not unusual. Autopsies were alsoperformed on both fire victims. Nothing remarkable
was noted by the first pathologists,although the level of carbon monoxide was unusually
low in the content of their blood. Nevertheless, the death were ruled an
accident. Washington County Deputy Jeff Severswas one of those who initially responded to
(02:04):
the fire scene. We responded outthere because we had a double fatality in
the fire, so naturally we wouldsend our arson investigators along with the state
Farm Marshall in our crime scene investigators. During the initial part of our investigation,
we didn't really have anything to indicateit was anything in an accidental.
Of course, early stages of theinvestigation and fires are extremely difficult and time
(02:30):
consuming to investigate, so we sentboth of the bodies, Kim and Daniel
Fulton to be the mother and thechild, to the Franklin County Corners office
for an autopsy. Also, duringthe crime scene investigation, we collected eighteen
samples and that was sent off tothe fire Marsher's office in Rentalsburg, Ohio
(02:53):
to check for accelerants. And withthe conclusion of the autopsy the initial part,
they were indicating to us that therewas really no signs of foul play.
Also, during that time, wewere getting the results back from the
samples that we sent off for accelerantsand those were all coming back negative.
(03:16):
Also, he recalled that from thebeginning the family members of Kimberly Fulton were
suspicious of the death. First,Kimberly never slept in a separate room from
her son. Also, during thistime, family members were very persistent with
us and there was explaining to usabout where the bodies were located. That
(03:37):
should never have happened and that wouldnot have happened with Kim. Kim would
not separate herself from her child whenhe slept. And Second, Kimberly had
been having a romantic relationship which hadended due to the birth of Daniel.
After her divorce, Kim had beenseeing a married man who lived in the
vicinity. Those who were close toher were aware of the relationship, which
(03:59):
she talked about openly. As amatter of fact, the man was alleged
to be Daniel's father. Unfortunately,these facts were coupled with the lack of
a definite cause of the fire.It wasn't ruled as electrical, a catch
all in many undetermined fires, norwas it linked to an accident such as
someone leaving a candle burning. Theruling from a medical examiner as to the
(04:20):
cause and manner of death other thanaccidental usually ends a case. The investigation
failed to turn up anything to pursueother than the whisperings of the local residents
regarding the pregnancy and a subsequent birthof Daniel that was the worst kept secret
in the community. Investigation ended whenall leads were exhausted. Predictably, the
(04:42):
family wasn't satisfied. Deputy Sivers stayedin touch with the family members and never
forgot about the case. A fewyears later, a break came in the
case that led to the identity ofsomeone who claimed to have been at a
Fulton trailer when the fire was set, there was a confidential informant who came
forward and she began to tell uscertain things that she had been told by
(05:04):
an individual, and it was stuffrelated to the fire, and it was
things that this person should not knowanything about because we didn't even know anything
about it yet. So that promptedus to continue on. Later on,
we started getting reports back from ourtoxicology and the numbers were not matching from
(05:27):
what we had with the original autopsy. What that did is it prompted me
to contact doctor Warner Spitz, andhe was the pathologist who trained our team.
He spent a couple of years traininghim, along with doctor Baden out
of New York and doctor Bass outof Tennessee. They all spent we go
(05:48):
had several hours of training with themover the years. So I spoke with
him on the phone and he requestedthat submit to him entire file that we
had, including the autopsy report thatwe had from Franklin County. And when
I did so, he contacted meback and said that in his opinion,
(06:10):
we had a double homicide. Sowith his findings and then with us continuing
with the interviews, we ended uptalking to this person who became a witness,
and she told us a lot aboutthis fire that nobody should know,
and it was consistent from the crimescene investigation. So that prompted us to
(06:32):
exhume the bodies, and we exhumedthe body. I think it was May
tenth of ninety five, and thenthis time we sent the bodies to Montgomery
County Corner's office, which was inDayton, Ohio. Their results were much
different than what Franklin County had andin fact, they said we had a
double homicide and their carbon monoxide levelswere matching with what their results were,
(06:58):
so everything was coming to play.And also they were able to find injuries
that were sustained to both Kim andDaniel, and that matched what our witness
had told is certain things had occurredprior to the fire, so all that
came to be, and then thatprompted us to investigate further. This confession
(07:20):
led to the exhumation of two bodiesfor additional testing by a different pathologist.
The level of carbon dioxide and aperson's blood should be extremely high. People
who are asleep after fires started,of course, are still breathing. Generally,
it is the carbon monoxide poisoning andthe smoke suffocation that kills them and
(07:41):
the fire is a secondary cause.It is not unusual for a fire victim
to have eighty percent or more carbonmonoxide in their blood results that wasn't the
case in this fire. The examinationsconducted by a different medical examiner discovered two
things that were missed by the originalpathologists. Using around the neck consistent with
(08:01):
strangulation was found. Additionally, theclothing on the bodies were examined for any
signs of an accelerate gasoling was detectedon Kimberly's clothing. The new source of
information came from the former girlfriend ofa man who claimed to have helped with
the murders and arson. She toldinvestigators that her boyfriend had confessed to her
(08:22):
a couple of years after the fire. The man was Scott Hickman. He
told his then girlfriend that on thenight of the fire, he accompanied the
father of Fulton's son, Daniel,to the mobile home the man was married
to another woman. After arriving,he witnessed the man strangled the baby and
his mother to death. The manhad brought a container of gasoling with them,
(08:45):
and after the murders, he pouredgasoling throughout the mobile home and set
it on fire. Later, afterfirefighters were battling the blaze, Hickman was
seen by others driving by the firescene. In nineteen ninety eight, the
case was presented to the Washington CountyGrand Jury, but the prosecuting attorney decided
to withhold the case until more evanscould be found to implicate the main suspect.
(09:07):
Unfortunately, the case again laid dormantfor several more years. In twenty
eleven, the Washington County Sheriff's OfficeCold Case Unit had been working on another
unsolved case dating back into the nineteeneighties. After solving the murder of one
of their own, chief Deputy,Joe Clark, the unit began focusing on
other crimes. This unit formally becamea division of the Sheriff's office. That
(09:28):
same year, Hickman was questioned againabout his involvement and told police what he
had told his girlfriend some twenty yearsearlier. He gave details of going to
the mobile home with his friend andwitnessed the strangulation of Kimberly and Daniel.
The man then poured the gasoline hehad brought throughout the mobile home and set
it on fire. In October twentytwenty one, Hickman was indicted on four
(09:52):
counts of aggravated murder and two countsof murder, giving the jury multiple options
depending on the evans say believe thetestimony would support. It was out to
the Passing Sparks case. We reopenedthis case, and through that time we
interviewed several people, and then therewas a couple of people that now have
(10:13):
come forward and they provided us withinformation we didn't have at that time,
and it was information that was goodevidence. So with that we were able
to indict him. However, withoutHickman's testimony, there was little evidence other
than hearsay's speculation and rumors to placethe real murder at the scene. It
(10:35):
was hoped that Hickman would er pleaof guilty and agreed to testify, but
the case never proceeded far enough.In August of twenty twenty one, attorneys
for Hickman filed a motion to dismissthe indictment, based mostly on the delay
in bringing the case to trial.They also cited the fact that the main
person of interest, the father ofthe dead child, was responsible for the
(10:56):
murders and not Scott Hickman. Afterthe motion was dismissed, the attorneys tried
a different route. Attorneys for Hickmanfiled a motion to declare him incompetent to
stand trial since that time back inOctober of twenty twenty three, they did
a test on him and they foundhe was incompetent to stand trial. So
now he's currently in the state ofOhio getting treatment trying to restore him,
(11:22):
and they got a year to dothat. An examination by a psychologist found
that he suffered from schizo effective disorder, which is schizophrenia with an accompanying mood
disorder such as bipolar disorder or majordepression disorder. It was stated that he
experienced severe thought disorder, rendering himunable to understand the legal proceedings he was
(11:43):
involved in and therefore unable to assisthis attorneys in his own defense. Thought
disorders are usually a characteristic of schizophrenia, spectrum, or other psychotic disorder.
As a result, Hickman has beenhoused in a mental health facility where he
will remain until his condition improves.In other words, he will remain in
a facility until he's mentally able tostand trial. If for when this occurs,
(12:07):
his attorneys will undoubtedly found insanity defensebased on the same psychological reports.
The insanity defense is an affirmative defensein which the person doesn't dispute committing the
crime, but argues his mental stateat a time prevented him from knowing the
difference between right or wrong and thewrongfulness of the acts, and was unable
to make himself conform to the lawagainst murder. Lieutenant Severs, who once
(12:31):
retired and then returned to lead thecold case unit, says he is patiently
waiting while they continue to solve othercold cases from the past. Only then
will Hickman face a trial jury.The name of the main suspect and others
have been omitted at this time,as the investigation is still open and in
the criminal justice system for future trials. Join our next podcast as we discuss
(12:58):
more unusualcases in the Middle Ohio Valley. The Violence in the Valley podcast has
been brought to you by Interstate Insurancethree Generations of Insurance Excellence. For even
more details, get a copy ofthe book at Amazon dot com.
Now The Violence in the Valley podcastwith retired Parkersburg Chief of Police Bob Newell
and others. Brought to you byInterestate Insurance three generations of insurance Excellence.
The High Valley has experienced arson relatedmurders for many reasons over the decades.
The one case stands out as oneof the most senseless murders, in which
(00:32):
the motive was to hide information thatmay have merely caused embarrassment to an acquaintance
of the victims. In March nineteenninety five, a tragic fire occurred in
Washington County community of Waterford, Ohio. The small, quiet town has a
population of less than five hundred peopleand the crime rate is well below the
state and national average. Therefore,when the fire occurred, there was no
(00:55):
reason to believe it was anything otherthan a terrible accident. Mother and her
seventeen month old son were found deadinside the mobile home in which they lived.
The bodies of the mother, KimberlyFulton, and her son, Daniel,
were found at opposite ends of thetrailer. The death required an investigation
by the State Fire Marshal's Office,as did all fires with fatalities. Samples
(01:19):
of debris were collected by investigators fromthe point of origin and sent to the
state laboratory for analysis to determine ifthere were traces of gasoline or some other
accelerant. Lab examinations found no suchevidence. The fire had burned for a
long time before the volunteer fire departmentarrived. In many cases, liquid accelerants
are completely consumed in long burning fires, so the absence of any trace of
(01:42):
fuels not unusual. Autopsies were alsoperformed on both fire victims. Nothing remarkable
was noted by the first pathologists,although the level of carbon monoxide was unusually
low in the content of their blood. Nevertheless, the death were ruled an
accident. Washington County Deputy Jeff Severswas one of those who initially responded to
(02:04):
the fire scene. We responded outthere because we had a double fatality in
the fire, so naturally we wouldsend our arson investigators along with the state
Farm Marshall in our crime scene investigators. During the initial part of our investigation,
we didn't really have anything to indicateit was anything in an accidental.
Of course, early stages of theinvestigation and fires are extremely difficult and time
(02:30):
consuming to investigate, so we sentboth of the bodies, Kim and Daniel
Fulton to be the mother and thechild, to the Franklin County Corners office
for an autopsy. Also, duringthe crime scene investigation, we collected eighteen
samples and that was sent off tothe fire Marsher's office in Rentalsburg, Ohio
(02:53):
to check for accelerants. And withthe conclusion of the autopsy the initial part,
they were indicating to us that therewas really no signs of foul play.
Also, during that time, wewere getting the results back from the
samples that we sent off for accelerantsand those were all coming back negative.
(03:16):
Also, he recalled that from thebeginning the family members of Kimberly Fulton were
suspicious of the death. First,Kimberly never slept in a separate room from
her son. Also, during thistime, family members were very persistent with
us and there was explaining to usabout where the bodies were located. That
(03:37):
should never have happened and that wouldnot have happened with Kim. Kim would
not separate herself from her child whenhe slept. And Second, Kimberly had
been having a romantic relationship which hadended due to the birth of Daniel.
After her divorce, Kim had beenseeing a married man who lived in the
vicinity. Those who were close toher were aware of the relationship, which
(03:59):
she talked about openly. As amatter of fact, the man was alleged
to be Daniel's father. Unfortunately,these facts were coupled with the lack of
a definite cause of the fire.It wasn't ruled as electrical, a catch
all in many undetermined fires, norwas it linked to an accident such as
someone leaving a candle burning. Theruling from a medical examiner as to the
(04:20):
cause and manner of death other thanaccidental usually ends a case. The investigation
failed to turn up anything to pursueother than the whisperings of the local residents
regarding the pregnancy and a subsequent birthof Daniel that was the worst kept secret
in the community. Investigation ended whenall leads were exhausted. Predictably, the
(04:42):
family wasn't satisfied. Deputy Sivers stayedin touch with the family members and never
forgot about the case. A fewyears later, a break came in the
case that led to the identity ofsomeone who claimed to have been at a
Fulton trailer when the fire was set, there was a confidential informant who came
forward and she began to tell uscertain things that she had been told by
(05:04):
an individual, and it was stuffrelated to the fire, and it was
things that this person should not knowanything about because we didn't even know anything
about it yet. So that promptedus to continue on. Later on,
we started getting reports back from ourtoxicology and the numbers were not matching from
(05:27):
what we had with the original autopsy. What that did is it prompted me
to contact doctor Warner Spitz, andhe was the pathologist who trained our team.
He spent a couple of years traininghim, along with doctor Baden out
of New York and doctor Bass outof Tennessee. They all spent we go
(05:48):
had several hours of training with themover the years. So I spoke with
him on the phone and he requestedthat submit to him entire file that we
had, including the autopsy report thatwe had from Franklin County. And when
I did so, he contacted meback and said that in his opinion,
(06:10):
we had a double homicide. Sowith his findings and then with us continuing
with the interviews, we ended uptalking to this person who became a witness,
and she told us a lot aboutthis fire that nobody should know,
and it was consistent from the crimescene investigation. So that prompted us to
(06:32):
exhume the bodies, and we exhumedthe body. I think it was May
tenth of ninety five, and thenthis time we sent the bodies to Montgomery
County Corner's office, which was inDayton, Ohio. Their results were much
different than what Franklin County had andin fact, they said we had a
double homicide and their carbon monoxide levelswere matching with what their results were,
(06:58):
so everything was coming to play.And also they were able to find injuries
that were sustained to both Kim andDaniel, and that matched what our witness
had told is certain things had occurredprior to the fire, so all that
came to be, and then thatprompted us to investigate further. This confession
(07:20):
led to the exhumation of two bodiesfor additional testing by a different pathologist.
The level of carbon dioxide and aperson's blood should be extremely high. People
who are asleep after fires started,of course, are still breathing. Generally,
it is the carbon monoxide poisoning andthe smoke suffocation that kills them and
(07:41):
the fire is a secondary cause.It is not unusual for a fire victim
to have eighty percent or more carbonmonoxide in their blood results that wasn't the
case in this fire. The examinationsconducted by a different medical examiner discovered two
things that were missed by the originalpathologists. Using around the neck consistent with
(08:01):
strangulation was found. Additionally, theclothing on the bodies were examined for any
signs of an accelerate gasoling was detectedon Kimberly's clothing. The new source of
information came from the former girlfriend ofa man who claimed to have helped with
the murders and arson. She toldinvestigators that her boyfriend had confessed to her
(08:22):
a couple of years after the fire. The man was Scott Hickman. He
told his then girlfriend that on thenight of the fire, he accompanied the
father of Fulton's son, Daniel,to the mobile home the man was married
to another woman. After arriving,he witnessed the man strangled the baby and
his mother to death. The manhad brought a container of gasoling with them,
(08:45):
and after the murders, he pouredgasoling throughout the mobile home and set
it on fire. Later, afterfirefighters were battling the blaze, Hickman was
seen by others driving by the firescene. In nineteen ninety eight, the
case was presented to the Washington CountyGrand Jury, but the prosecuting attorney decided
to withhold the case until more evanscould be found to implicate the main suspect.
(09:07):
Unfortunately, the case again laid dormantfor several more years. In twenty
eleven, the Washington County Sheriff's OfficeCold Case Unit had been working on another
unsolved case dating back into the nineteeneighties. After solving the murder of one
of their own, chief Deputy,Joe Clark, the unit began focusing on
other crimes. This unit formally becamea division of the Sheriff's office. That
(09:28):
same year, Hickman was questioned againabout his involvement and told police what he
had told his girlfriend some twenty yearsearlier. He gave details of going to
the mobile home with his friend andwitnessed the strangulation of Kimberly and Daniel.
The man then poured the gasoline hehad brought throughout the mobile home and set
it on fire. In October twentytwenty one, Hickman was indicted on four
(09:52):
counts of aggravated murder and two countsof murder, giving the jury multiple options
depending on the evans say believe thetestimony would support. It was out to
the Passing Sparks case. We reopenedthis case, and through that time we
interviewed several people, and then therewas a couple of people that now have
(10:13):
come forward and they provided us withinformation we didn't have at that time,
and it was information that was goodevidence. So with that we were able
to indict him. However, withoutHickman's testimony, there was little evidence other
than hearsay's speculation and rumors to placethe real murder at the scene. It
(10:35):
was hoped that Hickman would er pleaof guilty and agreed to testify, but
the case never proceeded far enough.In August of twenty twenty one, attorneys
for Hickman filed a motion to dismissthe indictment, based mostly on the delay
in bringing the case to trial.They also cited the fact that the main
person of interest, the father ofthe dead child, was responsible for the
(10:56):
murders and not Scott Hickman. Afterthe motion was dismissed, the attorneys tried
a different route. Attorneys for Hickmanfiled a motion to declare him incompetent to
stand trial since that time back inOctober of twenty twenty three, they did
a test on him and they foundhe was incompetent to stand trial. So
now he's currently in the state ofOhio getting treatment trying to restore him,
(11:22):
and they got a year to dothat. An examination by a psychologist found
that he suffered from schizo effective disorder, which is schizophrenia with an accompanying mood
disorder such as bipolar disorder or majordepression disorder. It was stated that he
experienced severe thought disorder, rendering himunable to understand the legal proceedings he was
(11:43):
involved in and therefore unable to assisthis attorneys in his own defense. Thought
disorders are usually a characteristic of schizophrenia, spectrum, or other psychotic disorder.
As a result, Hickman has beenhoused in a mental health facility where he
will remain until his condition improves.In other words, he will remain in
a facility until he's mentally able tostand trial. If for when this occurs,
(12:07):
his attorneys will undoubtedly found insanity defensebased on the same psychological reports.
The insanity defense is an affirmative defensein which the person doesn't dispute committing the
crime, but argues his mental stateat a time prevented him from knowing the
difference between right or wrong and thewrongfulness of the acts, and was unable
to make himself conform to the lawagainst murder. Lieutenant Severs, who once
(12:31):
retired and then returned to lead thecold case unit, says he is patiently
waiting while they continue to solve othercold cases from the past. Only then
will Hickman face a trial jury.The name of the main suspect and others
have been omitted at this time,as the investigation is still open and in
the criminal justice system for future trials. Join our next podcast as we discuss
(12:58):
more unusualcases in the Middle Ohio Valley. The Violence in the Valley podcast has
been brought to you by Interstate Insurancethree Generations of Insurance Excellence. For even
more details, get a copy ofthe book at Amazon dot com.
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