Old Fire Arsonist Now Faces Death Penalty

SAN BERNARDINO – A jury that found Rickie Lee Fowler guilty of murder and arson in the October 2003 fire set in Waterman Canyon will return to decide whether he should receive life in prison or a possible death sentence.

Rickie Lee Fowler now has murder added to his list of convictions

Fowler, 30, heard the jury’s decision on Wednesday, nearly nine years after a fire that led to the deaths of six people, destroyed over 1,000 structures and 91,000 acres. He has been in prison for other crimes since 2004, having also been convicted of two burglaries.

Now convicted on five counts of first-degree murder and two arson counts, Fowler’s actions opened the possibility that special circumstances existed for consideration of the death penalty.

He was indicted in 2009 for starting the fire. Witnesses testified that Fowler was seen on Highway 18 fleeing in a van just after the fire started. Investigators had focused early efforts on Fowler, who had made comments during interviews while he was in jail for the burglaries. The fire, Fowler told investigators, was lit with a road flare, adding the exact spot of the ignition point and the near collision with another vehicle moments later. It was a man in that vehicle that placed Fowler at the scene. Fowler testified during the trial that he was present when the fire was set, but that he never said he started the fire.

Earlier this year, Fowler was also convicted of raping a man in jail while waiting trial in the Old Fire case. He was sentenced to 75 years to life.

Of the six deaths in the Old Fire, five were men ranging in age from 54 to 93 who died from heart attacks, authorities claiming stress of the fire had brought on their deaths. The sixth heart attack victim could not be directly linked to stress from the fire. The five victims attributed to Fowler were Robert Taylor, 54, Charles Cunningham, 93, and James McDermith, 70, all of San Bernardino; Chad Williams, 70, of Crestline; and Ralph McWilliams, 67, of Cedar Glen.

The "Old Fire" burned night and day for two weeks in 2003

The fire was started on Oct. 25, 2003 and spread quickly due to strong Santa Ana winds, and burned for nearly two weeks. Firefighting costs were estimated at $38 million. During that month, nearly a dozen other fires took place throughout Southern California.

The Old Fire spread throughout the San Bernardino mountains, from Crestline to Devore, and to Cedar Glen near Lake Arrowhead. It surged into a San Bernardino neighborhood at Del Rosa, knocking out scores of tract homes in the process. There were 336 homes lost to the fire. Most of the homes were rebuilt, but many owners did not have insurance, or were under-insured to fully rebuild.  Many area residents have claimed that hundreds of lives were severely affected, or even ruined by the impact of the fire.

Read More:

CBSNEWS: California wildfire arsonist Rickie Fowler found guilty of murder by heart attack

The Sun: San Bernardino man, 30, guilty of murder, arson in 2003 Old Fire

LA Times: Man guilty of murder and arson in 2003 Old fire