THE FIRES DATED BACK FIVE YEARS AND MAYBE more.  A long  string of arsons in and around Norwich, Connecticut, led to the creation of a regional task force to dedicate their efforts exclusively to finding the culprits and bringing an end to their misdeeds.  After four months of intensive investigation, in late September ten people – 2 women and 8 men – were arrested and charged with setting 12 fires in the region.

Two of them were already in prison after having been convicted previously for other arsons in the same area.  This past Wednesday October 13, two more of the accused were further charged with setting fire to a vacant warehouse four years ago.  The Norwich Bulletin describes the unusual crime-by-canoe:

Kevin Walker, the suspected ringleader of the group and Mutch’s former roommate, later told police he watched a video Mutch had taken of the fire.

While Mutch denies direct involvement in setting the early morning warehouse fire, he did admit to Norwich Police Officer Robert Smith that he paddled his canoe to the building, dropped off Gavitt and filmed the fire from across the Thames River, according to the arrest warrant affidavit in the case. Smith is a member of the arson squad that was formed earlier this year following a blaze at the Capehart Mill that called on resources from 17 fire departments.

Gavitt admits pouring a bottle of oily liquid onto a stack of wooden pallets and using a lighter to ignite a fire, police said. Mutch was with him and fully aware of what he was doing, Gavitt told police.

Mutch’s arrest was the result of months of investigations and countless interviews with arson suspects, most of whom know each other and share an obsession with fire, according to police reports.

On Tuesday October 19, one of the suspects was charged with 10 more arsons.  The Bulletin reports:

Kevin M. Walker rarely went anywhere without his “little friend,” a small butane torch that former friends said he used to light fires around Norwich, according to a newly released police report.

Walker, already in prison on arson and bomb making-related charges, was served with additional arrest warrants Monday, nine warrants from Norwich police and one from state police, linking him to 10 more fires.

After Walker’s release from prison on bomb-making charges in December, (an investigator) spoke with an unidentified witness who listened to Walker joke about his arrest.  “Walker began talking and laughing about the fact that he had not been caught for a fraction of what he had done in the past,” according to the arrest warrant.

Walker’s former Norwich roommate, Keith Mutch, remembered Walker telling him the barn, “went up like a matchstick,” according to police reports.  “Mutch said Walker was extremely excited and giddy when he told him about the barn fire,” police reports show.  Other police reports depict Walker as someone who not only lit fires and bragged about them, but on occasion filmed or photographed the flames and the ensuing response by fire departments.

While these charges for dozens of arsons are continuing, the police believe that they have all the suspects identified for this long period of activity.

Laura McDonald

Earlier this month the judge presiding over the arraignments ruled that one of women, Laura McDonald is not mentally competent to stand trial.  Judge Patrick Clifford’s decision was a quick one — based on brief courtroom testimony and an evaluation completed by a clinical team with the Office of Forensic Evaluations of the state Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services in Norwich.

The team’s opinion was unanimous, said Jo-Ann Holmes, a licensed clinical social worker.  “She is unable to understand the proceedings against her and unable to assist in her own defense,” Holmes testified.  MacDonald, with a history of psychiatric hospitalizations, was diagnosed with major depressive disorder, Tourette Syndrome and borderline personality disorder, and also has substance abuse issues, Holmes said.

MacDonald has been placed in an inpatient psychiatric facility for 60 days. She will be in the custody of the commissioner of the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services at the Whiting Forensic Division of Connecticut Valley Hospital.  Holmes said there is a good probability MacDonald could be restored to competency during her hospitalization.

Read the recent reports from the Norwich Bulletin HERE, HERE, and HERE.

Thanks to Rob L.