Episode 96

On December 31, 1986, just hours before Puerto Rico would ring in the New Year, flames tore through the luxurious Dupont Plaza Hotel and Casino in San Juan. What began as a labor dispute escalated into one of the deadliest hotel fires in U.S. history, killing 97 people and injuring more than 140. In the aftermath, investigators would uncover arson, negligence, ignored safety recommendations, a chaotic evacuation, and a legal battle that reshaped fire codes across the hospitality industry.

In this episode, we examine:

The labor tensions and strike that set the stage for disaster

The timeline of the fire and how it spread so rapidly

How smoke and toxic gases became the primary killers

Failures in life safety systems, egress, and emergency planning

The investigation that quickly identified arson

Criminal charges against arsonists

Massive civil litigation and code reforms that followed

Lessons learned in the context of other hotel/casino fires of the era

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Inner Sanctum Acknowledgments:

Listener discretion is advised.

Background music by Not Notoriously Coordinated 

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Please follow us on Instagram, X, Facebook, TikTok and Youtube for the latest news on this case. You can email us at [email protected] We welcome any constructive feedback and would greatly appreciate a 5 star rating and review. 

If you need a way to keep your canine contained, you can also support the show by purchasing a Pawious wireless dog fence using our affiliate link and use the code "crimetoburn" at checkout to receive 10% off. Pawious, because our dog Winston needed a radius, not a rap sheet. 

Sources: 

Dupont Plaza Hotel Arson Investigation. Señor Onion’s Archives. YouTube, April 13, 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JyUjUoX_so

Dupont Plaza Hotel Arson of 1986. Señor Onion’s Archives. YouTube, October 21, 2024. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJsFLgxuDJ8

Nelson, Harold E. “An Engineering Analysis of the Early Stages of Fire Development — The Fire at the Dupont Plaza Hotel and Casino — December 31, 1986.” NBSIR 87-3560, National Bureau of Standards, Center for Fire Research, U.S. Department of Commerce, April 1987.

Levy, Harold M. “The Dupont Plaza Hotel Fire Litigation: A Case Study in Cooperative Defense.” Alternatives to the High Cost of Litigation, Vol. 7, No. 12, December 1989, pp. 215–233.

José Francisco Rivera-Lopez, Plaintiff, Appellant, v. United States of America, Defendant, Appellee. U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, 4 F.3d 982, September 15, 1993. https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F3/4/982/525384/

“Teamsters Dispute with Dupont Plaza Dates Back Four Months.” UPI Archives, January 13, 1987. https://www.upi.com/Archives/1987/01/13/Teamsters-dispute-with-Dupont-Plaza-dates-back-four-months/7070215305413/

Brossy, Julie. “A Dupont Plaza Bar Boy Was Charged Today With…” UPI Archives, January 14, 1987. https://www.upi.com/Archives/1987/01/14/A-Dupont-Plaza-bar-boy-was-charged-today-with/8362537598800/

Hernandez, Moises. “Suspect in Hotel Fire Was Honored for Saving ‘Many Lives.’” UPI Archives, January 14, 1987. https://www.upi.com/Archives/1987/01/14/Suspect-in-hotel-fire-was-honored-for-saving-many-lives/2708537598800/

Gaulin, Edward J. “Defendants Plead Guilty in Dupont Plaza Hotel Fire.” UPI Archives, April 24, 1987. https://www.upi.com/Archives/1987/04/24/Defendants-plead-guilty-in-Dupont-Plaza-Hotel-fire/8801546235200/

Wilentz, Amy. “A New Year We’ll Never Forget.” TIME, January 12, 1987. https://time.com/archive/6708028/a-new-year-well-never-forget/

Tepfer, Daniel. “A Vacation in Paradise Turns into Fiery Hell.” CTPost, Updated December 30, 2011. https://www.ctpost.com/news/article/a-vacation-in-paradise-turns-into-fiery-hell-2432149.php

Dewey, Joseph. “Dupont Plaza Hotel Fire.” EBSCO Knowledge Advantage Research Starters, 2022. https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/law/dupont-plaza-hotel-fire

“Dupont Plaza Hotel Arson.” Grokipedia. https://grokipedia.com/page/Dupont_Plaza_Hotel_arson

Episode 95

In 1980, a seemingly unremarkable fire threatened to expose something far more dangerous than arson.

What investigators uncovered was a trail that pointed toward an arms pipeline linked directly to the Irish Republican Army, operating quietly while The Troubles raged overseas.

At the center of it all was Charles Galant—a small-time thief who never set out to be part of something so vast, but who became the sole link between a suspicious fire and an armory heist that tied someone in his network to the IRA.

In this episode of Crime to Burn, we explore:

The fire that first drew police attention

How investigators connected a local blaze to an international arms network

The role of theft, secrecy, and compartmentalization in terrorist operations

How Galant’s actions exposed vulnerabilities inside a tightly controlled system

And how one overlooked incident nearly unraveled an entire pipeline

This is a story about unintended consequences, criminal blind spots, and how fire once again became the catalyst that revealed what was never meant to be seen.

Because even the most disciplined organizations fail at their weakest link.

Buy Burn Boston Burn by Wayne M. Miller: https://a.co/d/ipCuGL2

Buy Bang Boom Burn by Wayne M. Miller: https://a.co/d/a2EACYf

The Crime to Burn Patreon - The Cult of Steve - is LIVE NOW! Go join and get all the unhinged you can handle. Click here to be sanctified. 

Inner Sanctum Acknowledgments:

Listener discretion is advised.

Background music by Not Notoriously Coordinated 

Get your Crime to Burn Merch! https://crimetoburn.myspreadshop.com

Please follow us on Instagram, X, Facebook, TikTok and Youtube for the latest news on this case. You can email us at [email protected] We welcome any constructive feedback and would greatly appreciate a 5 star rating and review. 

If you need a way to keep your canine contained, you can also support the show by purchasing a Pawious wireless dog fence using our affiliate link and use the code "crimetoburn" at checkout to receive 10% off. Pawious, because our dog Winston needed a radius, not a rap sheet. 

Sources: 

Miller, Wayne M. Bang Boom Burn: Explosive True Crime Gun, Bombing, and Arson Cases from a Federal Agent’s Career. AuthorHouse, 2021. ISBN 978-1-7333403-5-9.

Gagnon, Daniel A. “Danvers Armory Robbery, 1976.” Specters of Salem Village, March 17, 2019.

“Official Irish Republican Army.” Wikipedia.

“Frank Salemme.” Wikipedia.

Episode 94

In Part 2 of our series on the Iroquois Theatre Fire, we examine what happened after the flames went out — and why, despite hundreds of deaths, no one was ever held criminally accountable.

Although the fire was accidental, the failures that made it lethal were anything but unforeseeable. In the aftermath, Chicago demanded answers. A coroner’s inquest, multiple grand juries, and a wave of indictments followed — implicating theater owners, city officials, inspectors, fire officials, and contractors. For a brief moment, it looked like accountability might finally arrive.

But the law proved unequal to the scale of the tragedy.

In this episode, we break down how rigid legal standards, gaps in evidence collection, political power struggles, and a failure to clearly assign responsibility allowed every criminal case to collapse. We explore why manslaughter charges failed, how loopholes in municipal authority undermined enforcement, and how even civil lawsuits left victims’ families without compensation.

Finally, we look at what did change — the life safety reforms born from the Iroquois Theatre Fire that still protect us today, from outward-swinging exit doors to panic hardware and illuminated exit signs.

This is the story of a tragedy that reshaped fire and building codes across the world — and a justice system that, when tested, quietly stepped aside.

The Crime to Burn Patreon - The Cult of Steve - is LIVE NOW! Go join and get all the unhinged you can handle. Click here to be sanctified. 

Inner Sanctum Acknowledgments:

Listener discretion is advised.

Background music by Not Notoriously Coordinated 

Get your Crime to Burn Merch! https://crimetoburn.myspreadshop.com

Please follow us on Instagram, X, Facebook, TikTok and Youtube for the latest news on this case. You can email us at [email protected] We welcome any constructive feedback and would greatly appreciate a 5 star rating and review. 

If you need a way to keep your canine contained, you can also support the show by purchasing a Pawious wireless dog fence using our affiliate link and use the code "crimetoburn" at checkout to receive 10% off. Pawious, because our dog Winston needed a radius, not a rap sheet. 

Sources: 

Tinder Box: The Iroquois Theatre Disaster, 1903

Episode 93

On December 30, 1903, Chicago gathered for a matinee performance at the Iroquois Theater—a venue that had opened just five weeks earlier and was widely promoted as one of the safest, most modern theaters in the country.

It was advertised as “absolutely fireproof.”

It was anything but.

In this episode of Crime to Burn, we examine the Iroquois Theater Fire, one of the deadliest single-building fires in U.S. history—and a catastrophe that unfolded in minutes inside a brand-new building that had never been tested by an emergency evacuation.

What began as a small stage fire rapidly escalated as design flaws, concealed exits, inadequate fire protection, and human panic collided. Patrons were funneled into dead ends, trapped behind locked or hidden doors, or forced toward fire escapes that had never been completed.

Mothers and children were separated. Entire families were lost. Outside the theater, rescue attempts turned deadly as ladders slipped and fire escapes collapsed. In the aftermath, even identifying the dead became a challenge—there was no accurate way to know how many people had attended the performance or who had successfully escaped.

The Crime to Burn Patreon - The Cult of Steve - is LIVE NOW! Go join and get all the unhinged you can handle. Click here to be sanctified. 

Inner Sanctum Acknowledgments:

Listener discretion is advised.

Background music by Not Notoriously Coordinated 

Get your Crime to Burn Merch! https://crimetoburn.myspreadshop.com

Please follow us on Instagram, X, Facebook, TikTok and Youtube for the latest news on this case. You can email us at [email protected] We welcome any constructive feedback and would greatly appreciate a 5 star rating and review. 

If you need a way to keep your canine contained, you can also support the show by purchasing a Pawious wireless dog fence using our affiliate link and use the code "crimetoburn" at checkout to receive 10% off. Pawious, because our dog Winston needed a radius, not a rap sheet. 

Sources: 

Tinder Box: The Iroquois Theatre Disaster, 1903

Episode 92

In the conclusion of Samarcand, we turn away from the fire itself and examine what happened after sixteen teenage girls were arrested — and what the justice system did when it realized it had no good options left.

With Samarcand no longer able to house them, the state faced a question it wasn’t prepared to answer:

In this episode, we explore:

The debate over how — or whether — the girls should be tried

The real possibility of sending minors to adult penitentiaries

The fear of releasing them back into the public

And the consequences of incarcerating them in county jails unequipped to handle them

As the girls were moved through the system, tensions exploded. Jail riots broke out. Authorities lost control. And the public narrative hardened around fear rather than reform.

We examine how this case exposed a fundamental flaw in the justice system: it is built to punish or release — not to rehabilitate. Especially not when the defendants are young, angry, and shaped by institutional neglect.

Finally, we look at what the Samarcand case changed — and what it didn’t. How it influenced conversations around juvenile justice, where reform stalled, and why the same structural failures continue to repeat themselves today.

This is not a story about guilt or innocence alone.

The Crime to Burn Patreon - The Cult of Steve - is LIVE NOW! Go join and get all the unhinged you can handle. Click here to be sanctified. 

Inner Sanctum Acknowledgments:

Listener discretion is advised.

Background music by Not Notoriously Coordinated 

Get your Crime to Burn Merch! https://crimetoburn.myspreadshop.com

Please follow us on Instagram, X, Facebook, TikTok and Youtube for the latest news on this case. You can email us at [email protected] We welcome any constructive feedback and would greatly appreciate a 5 star rating and review. 

If you need a way to keep your canine contained, you can also support the show by purchasing a Pawious wireless dog fence using our affiliate link and use the code "crimetoburn" at checkout to receive 10% off. Pawious, because our dog Winston needed a radius, not a rap sheet. 

Sources: 

Bennett, Barbara. Smoke Signals from Samarcand: The 1931 Reform School Fire and Its Aftermath.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data: https://www.sc.edu/uscpress/

Mentioned in Episode (not used as a research source):

Zipf, Karin L. Bad Girls at Samarcand: Sexuality and Sterilization in a Southern Juvenile Reformatory.

Note: This book was referenced by title during the episode but was not used as a source or basis for research for this show.

Episode 91

Sixteen girls. Multiple fires. A system built to control them — and a desperate act that forced the nation to look closer.

In this episode, we step inside the walls of the Samarcand Reform School for Girls in North Carolina, where young women lived under harsh discipline, forced labor, and relentless institutional oversight. On the night they began setting fires, they weren’t just striking a match — they were striking back.

This is a story of defiance, injustice, and the blurred line between rebellion and survival. Were these girls arsonists — or victims fighting for autonomy the only way they could?

Listen as we follow the smoke through history and confront the uncomfortable truth about who society punishes, who it protects, and what incendiary acts are born from desperation.

The Crime to Burn Patreon - The Cult of Steve - is LIVE NOW! Go join and get all the unhinged you can handle. Click here to be sanctified. 

Inner Sanctum Acknowledgments:

Listener discretion is advised.

Background music by Not Notoriously Coordinated 

Get your Crime to Burn Merch! https://crimetoburn.myspreadshop.com

Please follow us on Instagram, X, Facebook, TikTok and Youtube for the latest news on this case. You can email us at [email protected] We welcome any constructive feedback and would greatly appreciate a 5 star rating and review. 

If you need a way to keep your canine contained, you can also support the show by purchasing a Pawious wireless dog fence using our affiliate link and use the code "crimetoburn" at checkout to receive 10% off. Pawious, because our dog Winston needed a radius, not a rap sheet. 

Sources: 

Bennett, Barbara. Smoke Signals from Samarcand: The 1931 Reform School Fire and Its Aftermath.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data: https://www.sc.edu/uscpress/

Mentioned in Episode (not used as a research source):

Zipf, Karin L. Bad Girls at Samarcand: Sexuality and Sterilization in a Southern Juvenile Reformatory.

Note: This book was referenced by title during the episode but was not used as a source or basis for research for this show.

Episode 90

In the final installment of our deep dive into the deadly world of Sarah Hartsfield, we unravel the last threads of a case that spiraled from chaos to calculated cruelty. This episode pulls together the full picture of Sarah’s violent history, her pattern of manipulation, and the chilling timeline that led investigators—and ultimately a jury—to label her actions for what they were.

We break down the pivotal moments from Sarah's past that shifted the direction of the trial. From the ignored medical alarms to her past partners’ harrowing accounts, we follow every red flag Sarah left fluttering in her wake. And we return to the question that kicked this series off: Did the jury get it right, was Joe Hartsfield's death murder?

Listen to You Should Be Here on your favorite podcast app including Apple Podcasts and Spotify. The new season, Cases that Haunt us is out now!

The Crime to Burn Patreon - The Cult of Steve - is LIVE NOW! Go join and get all the unhinged you can handle. Click here to be sanctified. 

Inner Sanctum Acknowledgments:

Listener discretion is advised.

Background music by Not Notoriously Coordinated 

Get your Crime to Burn Merch! https://crimetoburn.myspreadshop.com

Please follow us on Instagram, X, Facebook, TikTok and Youtube for the latest news on this case. You can email us at [email protected] We welcome any constructive feedback and would greatly appreciate a 5 star rating and review. 

If you need a way to keep your canine contained, you can also support the show by purchasing a Pawious wireless dog fence using our affiliate link and use the code "crimetoburn" at checkout to receive 10% off. Pawious, because our dog Winston needed a radius, not a rap sheet. 

Sources: For a full list of sources, please see the show notes for Episode 88 (part 1 of this series)

Episode 89

In Part 2 of our deep dive into the life and crimes of Sarah Hartsfield, we follow the tangled threads back to the beginning. Because before the alleged poisoning, before the string of dead or endangered husbands, before the Dateline episode…

This week, we explore:

Sarah’s early life — the patterns that began long before her first “I do.”

Marriage #1: A relationship marked by volatility, control, and infidelity

Her marriage to Chris — the escalating behaviors, the violence, and the fear her family lives with

Her brother’s house fire — a nearly fatal fire that was never ruled arson, but relatives think Sarah may be responsible

How Sarah’s ability to reinvent herself, charm authority, and flip narratives became the defining machinery of her survival.

Part 2 is the setup for where this case truly becomes unbelievable — but as you’ll hear, the warning signs were there all along.

Listen to You Should Be Here on your favorite podcast app including Apple Podcasts and Spotify. The new season, Cases that Haunt us is out now!

The Crime to Burn Patreon - The Cult of Steve - is LIVE NOW! Go join and get all the unhinged you can handle. Click here to be sanctified. 

Inner Sanctum Acknowledgments:

Listener discretion is advised.

Background music by Not Notoriously Coordinated 

Get your Crime to Burn Merch! https://crimetoburn.myspreadshop.com

Please follow us on Instagram, X, Facebook, TikTok and Youtube for the latest news on this case. You can email us at [email protected] We welcome any constructive feedback and would greatly appreciate a 5 star rating and review. 

If you need a way to keep your canine contained, you can also support the show by purchasing a Pawious wireless dog fence using our affiliate link and use the code "crimetoburn" at checkout to receive 10% off. Pawious, because our dog Winston needed a radius, not a rap sheet. 

Sources: For a full list of sources, please see the show notes for Episode 88 (part 1 of this series)

Episode 88

Sarah Hartsfield didn’t weave a web of silk — she wove a web of control.

In October 2025, a jury convicted Sarah Hartsfield of murdering her husband, Joseph Hartsfield, after deliberating for just one hour. One hour — despite the fact that the physical evidence was thin, the investigation delayed, and the medical questions complex. But what wasn’t thin was the pattern that emerged the moment investigators stepped back and looked at Sarah’s life in full.

In this episode, we strip away the decades of allegations — the shootings, the fires, the chaos — and start exactly where the jury started: with Joe’s death.

Then we will explore what prosecutors revealed once the pattern of Sarah’s past began to surface — a shocking trail of manipulation, alleged violence, suspicious fires, and the relentless pursuit of control that followed Sarah from childhood to court.

This is not just the story of one death.

Welcome to “Burn, Marry, Kill: The Wicked Web of Sarah Hartsfield.”

Listen to You Should Be Here on your favorite podcast app including Apple Podcasts and Spotify. The new season, Cases that Haunt us is out now!

The Crime to Burn Patreon - The Cult of Steve - is LIVE NOW! Go join and get all the unhinged you can handle. Click here to be sanctified. 

Inner Sanctum Acknowledgments:

Listener discretion is advised.

Background music by Not Notoriously Coordinated 

Get your Crime to Burn Merch! https://crimetoburn.myspreadshop.com

Please follow us on Instagram, X, Facebook, TikTok and Youtube for the latest news on this case. You can email us at [email protected] We welcome any constructive feedback and would greatly appreciate a 5 star rating and review. 

If you need a way to keep your canine contained, you can also support the show by purchasing a Pawious wireless dog fence using our affiliate link and use the code "crimetoburn" at checkout to receive 10% off. Pawious, because our dog Winston needed a radius, not a rap sheet. 

Sources: 

Tim Stelloh, Kelley Moody, Mario J. Garcia, Vince Sturla.

KPRC 2 Click2Houston (YouTube).

Bryce Newberry, Bill Carruthers, Wlad Moquete, Adrian Montes, Adrian Crooks, Matt James, Ana Lastra.

KPRC 2 Click2Houston (YouTube).

KPRC 2 Click2Houston (YouTube).

FOX 26 Houston (YouTube).

Episode 87

Hidden beneath the hills of northeast New Mexico lies a ghost that industry left behind. Dawson was once a model mining town — a company-built community boasting schools, golf courses, and an opera house. Phelps Dodge called it progress. But twice, in just ten years, that progress went up in smoke.

In 1913 and again in 1923, massive explosions ripped through Dawson’s coal mines, killing 383 miners — fathers, sons, and brothers — in two of the deadliest mining disasters in American history.

This episode digs deep into how “safety-forward” operations, good intentions, and one impatient decision turned an idealized town into a field of iron crosses. We’ll explore coal dust explosions, early fire protection efforts underground, and how greed, apathy, and bad timing turned progress into tragedy.

Because when profit becomes the accelerant… all it takes is a spark.

Listen to You Should Be Here on your favorite podcast app including Apple Podcasts and Spotify. The new season, Cases that Haunt us is out now!

The Crime to Burn Patreon - The Cult of Steve - is LIVE NOW! Go join and get all the unhinged you can handle. Click here to be sanctified. 

Inner Sanctum Acknowledgments:

Listener discretion is advised.

Background music by Not Notoriously Coordinated 

Get your Crime to Burn Merch! https://crimetoburn.myspreadshop.com

Please follow us on Instagram, X, Facebook, TikTok and Youtube for the latest news on this case. You can email us at [email protected] We welcome any constructive feedback and would greatly appreciate a 5 star rating and review. 

If you need a way to keep your canine contained, you can also support the show by purchasing a Pawious wireless dog fence using our affiliate link and use the code "crimetoburn" at checkout to receive 10% off. Pawious, because our dog Winston needed a radius, not a rap sheet. 

Sources: 

Pappas, Nick. Crosses of Iron: The Tragic Story of Dawson, New Mexico, and Its Twin Mining Disasters. Foreword by Richard Melzer. University of New Mexico Press, 2023. ISBN 978-0-8263-6528-6 (paper), 978-0-8263-6529-3 (electronic).

Sharpe, Tom. “Remembering the Dawson Mining Disaster, 100 Years Later.” The Santa Fe New Mexican, October 19, 2013.

Villa, Elizabeth. “Dawson, NM: Booming Mine Town Turned Ghost Town.” New Mexico State University Archives Blog, posted May 3, 2022.

Hawker Vanguard. “Eerie Enchantment: Dawson, New Mexico.” KOB4 News, published November 1, 2024.