The Flames of Injustice: The David Gavitt Story

Send us a text

Support the show

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
In 1985, david Lee Gavitt was a 26-year-old married
father of two.
He lived with his wife, angelaand their two daughters,
three-year-old Katrina and11-month-old Tracy, in Ionia,
michigan.
On the night of the 9th ofMarch 1985, david and Angela
watched some television beforetucking their daughters into bed
.
Afterwards they retired totheir own bedroom.

(00:22):
However, david had earlier litsome candles in the living room
and had forgotten to blow themout.
It was an accident that hewould come to regret for the
rest of his life.
Welcome to Human Wreckage.
In this episode we go back to acold March night in 1985, in
the small town of Ionia,michigan.
At night that changed one man'slife forever and claimed the

(00:43):
lives of an entire young family.
David Lee Gabbett was just 26years old.
He lived a quiet life with hiswife Angela and their two young
daughters, three-year-oldKatrina and 11-month-old Tracy.
They lived in a modest home,like so many young families,
trying to build a futuretogether.
But everything would comecrashing down when flames
engulfed their house in themiddle of the night.

(01:04):
David escaped, burned anddisoriented.
His wife and daughters didn'tmake it out.
Grief turned to horror and in amatter of days, david found
himself not just mourning butdefending himself accused of
setting the fire that killed hisfamily.
The evidence seemed strong.
The burn patterns, the fire'sbehavior had all pointed to
arson, according toinvestigators, and in a world

(01:27):
that hadn't yet begun toquestion the reliability of fire
science, that was enough.
David was convicted andsentenced to life in prison.
But what if the science waswrong?
And what if David wasn't themonster he was made out to be?
Like and subscribe if you likewhat I do, let's get into it.
A couple of hours after theyoung couple went to bed, they

(02:20):
were awoken by their dogscratching at the bedroom door.
When David opened the door, hewas horrified to see that the
living room was up in flames.
As Angela rushed to wake up thegirls, david ran across the
hallway and smashed a backwindow so that the family could
escape.
In retrospect, this probablymade the inferno worse, as it
created a draft.
Once the window was smashed,david attempted to reach the

(02:43):
girls, but by now the fire wasengulfing the entire home.
He was unable to force his wayto their bedroom and as he
called out to Angela, he heardno reply.
David reluctantly climbed outof the window on his own,
wearing only a pair of jeans.
He ran to his neighbor's home,leaving behind a trail of blood
from the lacerations he hadsustained from the smashed

(03:04):
window.
His neighbor called the firedepartmentations.
He had sustained from thesmashed window.
His neighbor called the firedepartment, while David ran back
to the burning home to attemptto re-enter.
Unfortunately, it was much toolate for Angela, katrina and
Tracy.
They perished inside the home.
David was rushed to hospitalwhere he was treated for
extensive burns and lacerations.
As if losing his wife andchildren wasn't traumatic enough

(03:24):
.
Investigators announced thatthey believed that the fire was
started intentionally, and Davidwas the main suspect.
Following his discharge fromthe hospital, he was charged
with the murders of his family.
During the trial, theprosecution alleged that the
evidence of arson was clear.
They suggested that the firehad been started with some kind
of flammable liquid and claimedthat there were pore patterns on

(03:46):
the floor of the home, as wellas intense low burns, which
indicated that an accelerant hadbeen used.
Moreover, they argued thattesting on the carpet inside the
home yielded traces of gasoline.
However, a Michigan StatePolice crime lab technician had
botched the test and came to aconclusion that was not
supported by science.
Nevertheless, this wasseemingly lost on both the

(04:11):
prosecution and the defense,despite the fact that several
witnesses saw David desperatelyattempt to rescue his family,
combined with the fact thatthere was no motivation, he was
found guilty of all threemurders and sentenced to life in
prison without the possibilityof parole, in 1986.
It wouldn't be until 2010 thatthe case got a second look.
After learning about theinconsistencies within the case
and understanding that arson isa forensic science in itself,

(04:33):
the Michigan Innocence Clinic atthe University of Michigan Law
School decided they wouldreinvestigate.
According to the MichiganInnocence Clinic, around three
percent of all prisoners areinnocent of the crimes for which
they have been convicted.
In Michigan alone, this wouldmean that thousands of prisoners
are innocent.
Several experts were called into examine the evidence found

(04:53):
within the home.
These experts included JohnLentini, who is known as the
nation's leading expert indebunking arson myths.
The carpet samples wereretested by state police, us
Bureau of Alcohol, tobacco,firearms and Explosives, as well
as a private laboratory.
It was determined that gasolinewas not present on the samples.
They discovered that aflashover had occurred, as

(05:15):
opposed to a liquid being usedto ignite the fire.
A flashover is a rarephenomenon in which a fire
explodes and completely takesover a room, engulfing it in
fire almost immediately.
In light of modern fire science, there is simply not one shred
of credible evidence that thefire at the Gavitt residence was
intentionally set.
Concluded Lentini.

(05:35):
On the 6th of June 2012, davidLee Gavitt was released from the
Carson City CorrectionalFacility after 27 years,
prosecutors had agreed thatDavid had been convicted based
on faulty evidence and outdatedscience.
Outside of prison, his attorney, michael McKenzie, said there
are many other people just likehim who should never have been
arrested.

(05:56):
In fact, in the late 1980s,around 25% of all house fires in
the United States alone wereconsidered arson, but today that
figure is around 6%.
Thousands of fires would nolonger be considered arson today
because there is a much betterunderstanding of fire science.
Following his release, thefirst place that David asked to

(06:16):
go was the cemetery where hisfamily were buried.
He remained at the grave fortwo hours.
It was the first time he hadever been to his family's graves
.
In June of 2014, david filed alawsuit seeking compensation for
his wrongful conviction.
The lawsuit was dismissed.
However, in 2019, david wasawarded $1.3 million in

(06:37):
compensation from the state ofMichigan.
After more than a quarter of acentury behind bars, david
Gabbett finally walked free in2012.
Advancements in fire science,once unavailable at the time of
his trial, proved that the blazethat destroyed his home and
took his family was not arson.
After all, it had been a tragicaccident, not a crime.
The patterns investigators onceused to convict him had long

(07:00):
since been debunked.
There was no accelerant, nodeliberate ignition, just a fire
and a devastating loss.
David had spent 26 years inprison for something he didn't
do, all while carrying theunbearable weight of grief.
He had lost his wife, angela,and his two daughters, katrina
and Tracy, and he lost thechance to mourn them freely, to
heal, to be believed.

(07:21):
The exoneration brought legalclosure, but not peace.
What was taken from DavidGavitt can never be returned.
No apology or compensation canbring back the years lost or the
family that perished in thatfire.
His story is a hauntingreminder of how quickly flawed
science and tunnel vision candestroy a life.
It's a call to question toinvestigate more carefully and

(07:43):
to remember that justice isn'tjust about punishment.
It's about truth.
David Gavitt never stoppedtelling the world he was
innocent, and in the end, thetruth caught up just far too
late.
Till next time, take care ofyourselves.
Thanks for watching.