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Billi Jo
SMALLWOOD
Classification: Murderer
Characteristics:
Parricide - Arson - To collect insurance money
Number of victims: 2
Date of murders: March 29, 2007
Date of arrest:
November 18, 2008
Date of birth: 1973
Victims profile:
Sam Fagan, 9, and Rebekah Smallwood, 2 (two of her
children)
Method of murder: Setting fire to her
home
Location: Fort
Campbell, Kentucky, USA
Status:
Sentenced to 25 years in prison on December 12, 2012
Billi Jo Smallwood Sentence:
25 Years For Arson That Killed 2 Children In Kentucky
By Bruce Schreiner - HuffingtonPost.com
December 13, 2012
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A sobbing mother was
sentenced Thursday to 25 years in prison for setting fire to her
home and killing two of her children at Fort Campbell, in what
prosecutors described as a scheme to escape a rocky marriage and
collect on her soldier husband's life insurance policy.
In a tearful plea for leniency, 39-year-old
Billi Jo Smallwood showed photo albums and her son's toy chest
while professing her innocence to a crime that could have put her
in prison for the rest of her life.
"Those are my children, my babies that grew
inside of me," she told U.S. District Judge Thomas B. Russell. "I
love them so much."
Family, friends and even her jail guards
portrayed her as caring, selfless and deeply religious during
nearly an hour of testimonials in support of Smallwood, who wept
during many of the presentations.
Assistant U.S. Attorney James R. Lesousky Jr.
described Smallwood's actions as "premeditated and devious" that
justified a life sentence.
"She turned her back on those children, and
when she did so, she lost two of them," he said.
Smallwood was convicted by a federal jury in
Paducah of maliciously setting fire to the two-story housing unit
in 2007 while her children slept inside. Prosecutors argued her
intent was to kill her husband and cash in his $400,000 insurance
policy.
She was convicted of one count of malicious
damage and destruction by fire to property owned by the United
States, resulting in the two deaths on the Army post straddling
the Kentucky-Tennessee border.
The May 2007 fire at the base killed 9-year-old
Sam Fagan, and 2-year-old Rebekah Smallwood. Smallwood's husband,
Army Spc. Wayne Smallwood, crawled out of a second level window
and suffered a leg injury when he jumped. Their toddler daughter,
Nevaeh, was not injured. Wayne Smallwood is no longer in the Army.
Smallwood herself suffered serious burns but
investigators testified the injuries were consistent with someone
setting a fire.
Russell mentioned the "powerful and sincere"
remarks by Smallwood's defenders while handing down the sentence.
Russell also ordered Smallwood to pay $209,000 in restitution for
damage caused by the blaze.
Evidence presented at trial indicated she
purchased a gasoline container about 12 hours before the fire was
set. Remnants of the container were found by investigators in the
first-floor dining room, where gasoline had been poured and
ignited.
Matthew Cummings, special agent with U.S. Army
Criminal Investigations Division, testified during her detention
hearing that the doors in the home had been locked from the inside
and smoke detectors had been removed.
Cummings said Smallwood told him the family had
just returned from a trip to Georgia when the fire was set and
they had just $17. Cummings said she was "aggravated" that her
husband had gone out earlier in the evening to a VFW club bar.
Prosecutors also pointed to evidence showing
Smallwood fabricated her claim that an intruder was responsible
and that she received a threatening phone call meant for her
husband on the eve of the fire. Records show no such call was
received. Her intent, they said, was to divert attention from
herself as a suspect.
"The telephone call never happened," Lesousky
said Thursday. "It was part of her cover up."
Smallwood said she wasn't the person portrayed
by prosecutors.
She talked of her devotion to her husband and
of being thrilled when she found out she was pregnant with her
oldest child. She talked about the children in personal terms
while describing scrapbook photos.
Her mother and her aunt offered tearful
statements asking for leniency.
Brenda Napper, a sergeant at the Marion County
Detention Center, where Smallwood has been held, said she believes
Smallwood's claim of innocence. Napper said it's the first time
she's ever felt an inmate was innocent.
Mitchell Embry, a volunteer chaplain who has
gotten to know Smallwood during her incarceration, called her "the
most faithful, deep-thinking, spiritual person I've been around."
Defense attorney Laura Wyrosdick declined to
say whether Smallwood will appeal.
Smallwood's trial had been delayed several
times over evidentiary issues and appeals.
Georgia Woman Convicted Of
Setting Fire To Residence At Fort Campbell Causing The Deaths Of
Her Two Minor Children
Justice.gov
June 28, 2012
PADUCAH, Ky. – Today, following a nine day
trial, a federal jury in U.S. District Court, found Billi Jo
Smallwood, of Brunswick, Georgia, guilty of maliciously setting
fire to a residence, located on the grounds of the Fort Campbell
Army post, causing the deaths of her two minor children, nine-year
old Sam Fagan and two-year old Rebekah Smallwood, announced David
J. Hale, United States Attorney for the Western District of
Kentucky.
The jury, sitting in Paducah, deliberated 2
hours before returning a unanimous verdict of guilty to the single
count of the September 22, 2010 superseding indictment returned
which charged Smallwood with maliciously setting the March 29,
2007, fire that caused the deaths of her two minor children.
Smallwood, age 39, is married to a former soldier who was
stationed at Fort Campbell, where the family also lived.
“The facts of this case are tragic and
heartbreaking. The evidence presented by the United States at
trial conclusively established that Billi Jo Smallwood
deliberately set fire to her residence while her children slept
inside. Today’s unanimous jury verdict holds Smallwood accountable
for her actions.” stated David J. Hale, United States Attorney for
the Western District of Kentucky.
During the trial, the United States presented
evidence that Smallwood intentionally set fire to her home after
substantial planning and that she did so knowing that setting the
fire created a grave risk of death to a person, and was in
reckless disregard for human life, and that the victims died as a
direct result of her acts.
Evidence presented at trial included physical
and documentary evidence that Smallwood purchased a specific
gasoline container approximately 12 hours before the fire was set.
Remnants of the container were found by investigators in the first
floor dining area of the two story apartment, where gasoline had
been poured and was ignited.
Smallwood’s statements to investigators were
successfully challenged by a fire expert who testified at trial
that burns to Smallwood’s legs and forearms were not consistent
with her account of when she claimed to first see the flames.
Smallwood’s statements to investigators that she saw “blue flames”
rapidly moving across the room, established that she was in the
room when the fire was ignited, according to the expert. The
expert testified that the blue flames are visible only when fire
started with gasoline is first set.
Evidence was presented at trial that Smallwood
fabricated a claim that she had received a threatening phone call
meant for her husband, on the eve that the fire was set, in order
to divert attention away from herself. Phone records and trial
testimony established that there was no record of an incoming call
as Smallwood had claimed.
The United States argued Smallwood was trying
to kill her husband, Wayne Smallwood, to get out of a difficult
marriage and collect on his $400,000 life insurance policy.
Sentencing has been scheduled before U.S.
Senior District Judge Thomas B. Russell, in Paducah, September
2012.
The case was tried by Assistant United States
Attorneys James R. Lesousky, Jr. and Marisa J. Ford. The Bowling
Green Field Office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and
Explosives (ATF) conducted the investigation in partnership with
the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division, as part of ATF’s
ongoing commitment to reduce violent crime and other threats to
public safety. Members of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation,
Bomb and Arson Squad, provided valuable assistance during the
investigation.
Army wife found guilty of
setting fire to home killing kids aged 9 and 2 in blaze 'set for
husband'
By Nina Golgowski - DailyMail.co.uk
June 28, 2012
An Army wife has been found guilty of setting
fire to her Fort Campbell home in a blaze that killed two of her
three children which prosecutors alleged was meant for her
husband.
A federal jury in Paducah, Kentucky delivered
the verdict five years after Billi Jo Smallwood's 9-year-old son
and 2-year-old daughter were killed in the fire prosecutors
claimed was set for her husband's life insurance policy.
U.S. attorney's office spokeswoman Stephanie
Collins says the jury deliberated for two hours before reaching
their verdict on Thursday on charges of malicious damage and
destruction by fire to property owned by the United States.
The fire on the Kentucky-Tennessee border in
May of 2007 killed the couple's 9-year-old son Sam Fagan and
2-year-old daughter Rebekah Smallwood.
Smallwood's husband, Army Spc. Wayne Smallwood,
and their toddler daughter, Nevaeh who was carried out of the home
by her mother, survived the incident.
'She set fire to her own home in hopes of
killing husband and wound up killing her kids,' Assistant U.S.
Attorney Stephanie Gabay-Smith previously accused during her
trial.
Smallwood's trial had been delayed several
times over evidentiary issues and appeals.
During her trial Matthew Cummings, a special
agent with U.S. Army Criminal Investigations Division, testified
that investigators determined gasoline was poured on the floor in
the living room of the couple's apartment.
He said Billi Jo Smallwood suffered second- and
third-degree burns, but they were consistent with someone who set
a fire. He said doors in the home had been locked from the inside
and smoke detectors had been removed.
Remnants of a gas can purchased by the mother
just 12 hours before the blaze was also found inside the home.
Mr Cummings said the husband had a $400,000
life insurance policy and the investigation showed the couple's
relationship was 'rocky' and she was 'concerned with his abuse of
alcohol and drugs.'
Just before the fire was set, the couple had
returned from a trip to Georgia and had only $17, the agent said.
She was aggravated that her husband had gone out earlier in the
evening to a VFW club bar.
Previous records of Mr Smallwood abusing his
wife were brought up during her trial, with him released from a
county jail on a domestic abuse complaint by his wife just before
her bail hearing in 2008.
Her defence suggested the fire was lit by an
intruder or even her husband himself.
During that bail hearing, however, her husband
took his wife's defence among other family members telling the
judge: 'My name is Wayne Smallwood and I am here to support my
wife.'
Responding to prosecutor's theories his wife
set the fire to kill him, he called them 'absurd,' according to
the Courier Journal, describing her as 'the most caring person I
know.'
Gainesville soldier’s wife
pleads not guilty to setting fire that killed 2 kids
GainesvilleTimes.com
December 26, 2008
PADUCAH, Ky. —
The wife of a Gainesville soldier has pleaded not guilty to
charges of setting a fire that killed her two young children at
their home on a Kentucky military base.
A judge’s order
shows Billi Jo Smallwood, 35, also pleaded not guilty Wednesday to
a federal charge of attempting to destroy a residential facility
for members of the U.S. Army that caused the death of two minors.
The May 2007 fire
at Fort Campbell killed Sam Fagan, 9, and Rebekah Smallwood, 2,
and injured her husband, Army Spc. Wayne Smallwood. The
Smallwoods’ toddler daughter, Nevaeh, was not injured.
Billi Jo
Smallwood could face execution or life in prison if convicted.
U.S. Magistrate Judge W. David King appointed a federal public
defender for Smallwood, who listed no income since being charged.
Smallwood was
arrested Nov. 18 in Gainesville, where her husband lived, and was
taken to Kentucky on Tuesday, where she is being held in federal
custody.
Smallwood listed
$1,270 in monthly expenses on a financial affidavit, but noted
that she currently has no job.
"I no longer have
a house or food expenses due to my situation," Smallwood wrote.
"These would be my normal expenses. I am no longer employed."
The fire broke
out in a two-story housing unit where six families lived in a
housing development called Lee Village that dates to the 1940s and
was in the process of being torn down. About 10,000 family members
live in housing on the sprawling base that straddles the
Tennessee-Kentucky state line, according to the most recent Fort
Campbell fiscal report.
The unsealed
federal grand jury indictment said Smallwood planned to set the
fire with the intention of causing a person’s death and her motive
was to receive money.
Army wife accused in arson
that killed her kids
Prosecutor: Woman botched attempt to collect
man's $400,000 insurance
Associated Press
November 22, 2008
GAINESVILLE, Ga. — An Army wife accused of
setting her apartment on fire botched an attempt to collect on her
husband's $400,000 insurance policy when he survived and her two
children died instead, a federal prosecutor said.
Billi Jo Smallwood, 35, was denied bond at a
Friday hearing in northeast Georgia, where she appeared on federal
charges of damaging government property by fire.
"She set fire to her own home in hopes of
killing her husband and wound up killing her kids," Assistant U.S.
Attorney Stephanie Gabay-Smith said.
The May 2007 fire at the Fort Campbell Army
post on the Tennessee-Kentucky border killed 9-year-old Sam Fagan,
and 2-year-old Rebekah Smallwood.
Smallwood's husband, Army Spc. Wayne Smallwood,
crawled out of a second-level window and suffered a leg injury
when he jumped. Their toddler daughter, Nevaeh, was not injured.
U.S. Magistrate Susan Cole said she denied bond
mostly because Smallwood was a flight risk. The indictment against
her was released Tuesday and she appeared in court in northeastern
Georgia, where she has family. She will likely be transferred to
Kentucky next week for a Dec. 10 arraignment.
"At this point the evidence appears strong
against Mrs. Smallwood," the judge said. "It's a heinous crime
that's alleged."
Troubled relationship
Matthew Cummings, a special agent with U.S.
Army Criminal Investigations Division, testified that
investigators determined gasoline was poured on the floor in the
living room of their apartment.
He said Billi Jo Smallwood suffered second- and
third-degree burns, but they were consistent with someone who set
a fire. He said doors in the home had been locked from the inside
and smoke detectors had been removed.
Cummings said the husband had a $400,000 life
insurance policy and the investigation showed the couple's
relationship was "rocky" and she was "concerned with his abuse of
alcohol and drugs."
Just before the fire was set, the couple had
returned from a trip to Georgia and had only $17, the agent said.
She was aggravated that her husband had gone out earlier in the
evening to a VFW club bar.
'Here to support my wife'
Smallwood's family members stood and identified
themselves to the judge in support of her release on bond. Her
husband, accompanied by friends in Army uniforms, stood and said,
"My name is Wayne Smallwood and I am here to support my wife."
The prosecutor said Friday that Wayne Smallwood
was just released from a county jail where he was in custody on a
domestic abuse complaint by his wife.
The accused woman's mother testified that her
daughter has been living in Brunswick recently and is active in
the church. Her husband and other family members declined comment
outside the courtroom but told the accused woman, "We love you,
Billi," as she was led away in shackles, sobbing.
