The Arsonist Next Door | 1: You Build We Burn

Summary

The Binge Crimes: The Arsonist Next Door – Episode 1: You Build, We Burn

Introduction

The Binge Crimes: The Arsonist Next Door delves into a chilling true crime story set in Phoenix, Arizona, in the year 2000. Host Sam Anderson, alongside producer Leona Hamid and a dedicated investigative team, unravels the mystery behind a series of arson attacks that plagued the city, targeting newly constructed homes near the Phoenix Mountains Preserve. This episode, titled "You Build, We Burn," sets the stage for a gripping narrative of fire, betrayal, and community turmoil.

Setting the Scene: Phoenix, 2000

The story begins with Lee Benson, a local businessman, embarking on building his dream mansion in Heritage Heights, an affluent suburb bordering the Phoenix Mountains Preserve. Lee's sprawling 10,000-square-foot home, complete with amenities like a four-car garage and a martial arts studio, symbolizes his success and ambition.

[01:45] Lee Benson: “The walls are up, the roof is on, all the wiring is in. Every day, coming to the construction site and watching this thing go up, it was so much fun.”

Despite the grandeur of Lee's construction project, tensions simmer within the community. Heritage Heights, nestled between Freeway 51 and the preserve, is home to upper-middle-class professionals who value their serene environment and the natural beauty of the nearby wilderness.

The First Fire: A Devastating Loss

On a quiet Sunday night in April 2000, Battalion Chief Brian Parks and his firefighting team are alerted to a massive fire engulfing Lee Benson's nearly completed mansion.

[02:04] Battalion Chief Brian Parks: “All of a sudden the lights kicked on the station... Your heart starts pounding, you're breathing fast.”

As firefighters battle the intense blaze, the community watches in horror as Lee's dream house is reduced to ashes.

[03:20] Sam Anderson: "Lee Benson's mansion, on the verge of completion, is engulfed in flames."

Despite the devastation, Lee initially attributes the fire to an accidental cause, possibly children smoking cigarettes.

[05:38] Battalion Chief Brian Parks: “There's nothing natural that could have started that fire other than somebody else doing it.”

However, the investigation soon reveals signs of arson, prompting suspicions that someone maliciously targeted Lee's property.

The Emergence of CSP: Messages and Mysteries

Weeks after the first fire, a menacing message appears on a construction site's sign:

[06:05] Lee Benson: “You build, we burn again.”
Signature: CSP

This cryptic acronym baffles investigators and raises questions about its meaning and the intentions behind the threats.

[06:27] Lee Benson: “Could there be somebody that, you know, has an issue with me? They just needed answers.”

As CSP's cryptic warnings escalate, further fires target other half-built homes near the preserve, intensifying community fear and suspicion.

Community Fear and Media Frenzy

The pattern of attacks sparks widespread panic and media frenzy, with local journalists drawing parallels to known eco-terrorist groups like the Earth Liberation Front (ELF). CSP (Coalition to Save the Preserves) emerges as a suspected group behind the arsons, blending environmental extremism with religious fervor.

[21:01] Sam Anderson: “CSP stands for Coalition to Save the Preserves.”

The community becomes polarized, with some viewing Lee as a "folk hero" while others fear the relentless arsonist targeting their neighborhood.

Investigation Under Strain

Lieutenant Rob Handy leads the Phoenix Police Department's investigation, grappling with limited evidence and mounting pressure from the community and media. Attempts to link CSP to existing eco-terrorist groups like ELF prove inconclusive, leaving Rob suspecting a lone actor with personal grievances.

[29:12] Sam Anderson: “Is it frustrating knowing that one guy or group of people is outsmarting like a whole police department?”

Rob's frustration peaks as fires continue unabated, and the community grows restless and distrustful of the authorities' inability to quell the arson spree.

Escalation and Community Meetings

With multiple fires in nine months, including one near Warren Jerrems' home and another targeting Amy Gitler's property, the neighborhood's tension reaches a boiling point. Rob organizes a community meeting to reassure residents and gather leads.

[31:08] Sam Anderson: “Some neighbors complain about slow response times from investigators. Others say not enough resources are being devoted to the case.”

During the meeting, the unexpected appearance of FBI Agent Terry Kearns adds another layer of complexity, hinting at potential federal involvement and escalating the stakes of the investigation.

[32:14] Sam Anderson: “This is a story about fire and betrayal with world-changing consequences.”

Conclusion: The Chase Continues

As the episode concludes, Rob Handy and his team are on the brink of identifying a suspect with environmental leanings and a history of protesting development. Just as hope seems within reach, another fire erupts, complicating the investigation and underscoring the arsonist's cunning and elusiveness.

[38:37] Lieutenant Rob Handy: “They had some hardcore environmental leanings and had some light criminal history.”

The episode leaves listeners on a cliffhanger, setting the stage for further exploration of the arsonist's motives, the community's response, and the ultimate resolution of this harrowing case.

Notable Quotes

• Brian Parks [02:14]: “The flames were licking up probably 40, 50ft in the air in the area of the mountain preserves.”
• Lee Benson [15:38]: “There's no way I'm going to let somebody like that win. No way.”
• Lieutenant Rob Handy [21:39]: “The first thing that came to mind was, was this an environmental group?”

Key Themes and Insights

1. Community Tensions: The juxtaposition of rapid urban development against preserved wilderness creates friction among residents, highlighting the classic conflict between progress and conservation.

2. Psychological Impact: The relentless arson attacks instill fear and paranoia, fracturing the sense of safety within the community and straining relationships among neighbors.

3. Investigation Challenges: Limited evidence and the arsonist's calculated moves complicate the police investigation, emphasizing the difficulties in solving such intricate crimes.

4. Media Influence: The media's portrayal of CSP ties the local arson spree to national eco-terrorism narratives, influencing public perception and adding pressure on law enforcement.

5. Personal Agendas: Lee Benson's refusal to be intimidated by the arsonist underscores themes of resilience and determination in the face of adversity.

Conclusion

Episode 1 of The Binge Crimes: The Arsonist Next Door masterfully sets up a complex narrative of environmental activism turned destructive, community upheaval, and the relentless pursuit of truth by law enforcement. Through engaging storytelling and meticulous detail, Sam Anderson invites listeners into the heart of Phoenix's darkest chapter, promising further revelations and deep dives into the characters and motives driving this arsonist's menacing campaign.

Credits and Production Notes

This episode was written and reported by Sam Anderson, produced by Leona Hamid, with assistance from Madeline Parr and research by Zayana Youssef. The production team includes Tom Wright, G. Stiles, and editor Dave Anderson, among others. Sound design and scoring were crafted by Nicholas Alexander and Daniel Kempson, with the original theme composed by Nicholas Alexander.

From Sony Music Entertainment and Novel, this series promises an in-depth exploration of one of Phoenix's most notorious criminal cases, blending investigative journalism with compelling storytelling.

Transcript

[Sam Anderson]

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[Sam Anderson]

Listen to all episodes of the Arsonist Next Door ad free right now by subscribing to the Binge. Visit the Binge channel on Apple Podcasts and hit subscribe at the top of the page or visit getthebinge.com to get access. Wherever you listen the binge feed your true crime obsession.

[Lee Benson]

The Bench.

[Novel Narrator]

Novel.

[Lee Benson]

I just love the beauty of the desert. All the changing seasons. Coyotes, javelina bobcats. Lots of rattlesnakes in the summertime.

[Sam Anderson]

Phoenix, Arizona, the year 2000. Lee Benson is a local businessman. He's building his dream house. It's enormous. A custom designed mansion close to the Phoenix Mountains preserve, an area of wilderness set aside for conservation. This bumpy brown patch of desert is being transformed.

[Lee Benson]

The walls are up, the roof is on, all the wiring is in. Every day, coming to the construction site and watching this thing go up, it was so much fun.

[Sam Anderson]

Everything is going according to plan.

[Battalion Chief Brian Parks]

All of a sudden the lights kicked on the station. Waking up from a sound sleep and it's kind of adrenaline rush. Your heart starts pounding, you're breathing fast.

[Sam Anderson]

It's 11:38 on a Sunday night in April. Battalion Chief Brian Parks leaps out of his bunk at a Phoenix fire station.

[Battalion Chief Brian Parks]

Get dressed quick, get out to the truck. Pulling out of the station and heading south, you could see a glow in the sky.

[Sam Anderson]

The glow is getting brighter and brighter, like a red dawn breaking over the mountains. But sunrise is is still six hours away. What Brian's team is heading towards is something much more dangerous.

[Battalion Chief Brian Parks]

The flames were licking up probably 40, 50ft in the air in the area of the mountain preserves.

[Sam Anderson]

A huge plume of smoke billows from the base of Piestewa Peak.

[Battalion Chief Brian Parks]

Undisturbed desert is where it was. You get something in there, you're having a brush fire.

[Sam Anderson]

The fire truck careens through a winding neighborhood onto a narrow dirt road before coming to a dead end. Beyond is nothing but desert, a rugged valley covered in cactus and creosote bush.

[Battalion Chief Brian Parks]

Very limited access Very, very dark, but you can see the glow the whole time, and you're just trying to get back there to get to work.

[Sam Anderson]

Lee Benson's mansion, on the verge of completion, is engulfed in flames.

[Battalion Chief Brian Parks]

The whole structure's ignited and burning.

[Sam Anderson]

At this point, Brian has to make a decision on whether to send his people inside the building.

[Battalion Chief Brian Parks]

Rolling the window down, you could actually feel the heat.

[Sam Anderson]

Because this is a construction site, Brian is hopeful there's no one inside to rescue. But even if there was, there's no way he can order his team into a fire like this.

[Battalion Chief Brian Parks]

The wall could collapse, and you don't want to be in the area where the wall falls on you or some of our equipment.

[Sam Anderson]

He tells his firefighters to stay back and try and contain the blaze. From the outside, the air is filled with the smell of wood smoke, like.

[Battalion Chief Brian Parks]

A big lumberyard fire. Basically. You're gonna hear crackling, you're gonna hear crashes and stuff like that. You can actually hear the wind moving too, because fire needs oxygen to burn.

[Sam Anderson]

A strange howling sound pierces the air, as if the fire itself were alive.

[Battalion Chief Brian Parks]

Out in an open environment, it's gonna consume as much oxygen as it can, and it's going to grow fast.

[Sam Anderson]

As the flames leap into the sky, fiery embers rain down over neighboring houses, igniting small brush fires in the surrounding desert. If this fragile landscape burns, it will take decades to recover. At 5:30am the following morning, the owner, Lee Benson, is woken up by a phone call.

[Lee Benson]

What got all this time and money and effort to this point, like, what the heck happened?

[Sam Anderson]

When he arrives at the scene, the road is lined with trucks, their lights flashing red and white.

[Lee Benson]

It was so hot that the concrete was sort of chipped up and coming apart.

[Sam Anderson]

Neighbors crowd around, craning their necks for a view of the destruction.

[Battalion Chief Brian Parks]

When the fire was over, everything was burned. There was nothing left that wasn't burned in that house.

[Sam Anderson]

The fire investigation team arrives to assess the damage. They're looking for clues to how it began, the point of origin.

[Battalion Chief Brian Parks]

There's nothing natural that could have started that fire other than somebody else doing it.

[Sam Anderson]

In other words, arson. But Lee Benson, he's not so sure.

[Lee Benson]

It's probably just some kids smoking cigarettes, dropped a match. I just assumed that it was an accident.

[Sam Anderson]

Sure. As someone who used to sneak into construction sites to smoke blunts with my friends when I was 16, I appreciate this theory. But then a few weeks later, my.

[Lee Benson]

Builder put up a sign for his company, and somebody wrote on it, you build, we burn again.

[Sam Anderson]

You build, we burn again. The word Burn is underlined and the message is signed with a mysterious acronym. Csp.

[Lee Benson]

Okay, this was intentional.

[Sam Anderson]

Who is csp and why are they targeting Lee?

[Lee Benson]

Could there be somebody that, you know, has an issue with me? They just needed answers.

[Sam Anderson]

It's going to be a long time before Li gets those answers, because CSP is far from done. There are dark times ahead for this quiet suburban neighborhood.

[Novel Narrator]

You never want to think your next door neighbor is the serial killer, but he lives next to somebody.

[Sam Anderson]

This is just the beginning of the most notorious arson spree Phoenix has ever seen.

[Lieutenant Rob Handy]

Is he just going to quit? We going to catch him? Or is somebody going to die?

[Sam Anderson]

He was like the Roadrunner zipping around the Arizona desert.

[Novel Narrator]

My heart's starting to race now. Is this him? This is him. I know this is him. This has got to be him.

[Sam Anderson]

CSP's crimes will ignite a firestorm of media attention.

[Lieutenant Rob Handy]

He thought he was so smart that he could taunt us by manipulating the.

[Sam Anderson]

Media and divide the communities of Phoenix. Some people were rooting for this guy.

[Lee Benson]

Like a folk hero.

[Lieutenant Rob Handy]

We were terrified. Everybody was.

[Sam Anderson]

From Sony Music Entertainment and Novel. I'm Sam Anderson. This is the arsonist next door. Episode one. You build, we burn. We could see more days above 110 through the weekend. So unfortunately, we're all looking at the same forecast here. More hot days. This last week of the month, I've come to the sweltering city of Phoenix to investigate this story that began a quarter century ago with that first fire at Lee Benson's place. Why? Because it's a story about going to the extreme, about the crazy things that seemingly ordinary people do under the right circumstances. And I want to understand what it takes to make someone go there, to send them over the edge. Personally, I'm already there. This heat is driving me absolutely insane. Holy moly. My producer Leona and I have perfected a mad dash from the air conditioned apartment to our air conditioned car, a bright red Mini Cooper. Oh, that's delicious. But the Mini takes a while to cool down. Know if I've ever eaten a hot banana before? We're parked on a suburban street in North Phoenix, an area called Heritage Heights. It's just around the corner from Lee Benson's house, the scene of the crime, where it all began. I'm actually feeling kind of paranoid. You know when you're in a picture perfect neighborhood and get that feeling like you're not supposed to be there? That's exactly the sort of place we're in right now. It's an affluent suburb where dozens of cul de sacs wind around each other. I'm seeing Spanish style houses, Paris painted in desert colors, some with lawns neatly trimmed and well watered despite the heat, which makes no sense for the desert. We exit the car and start knocking on doors. Hello, my name's Sam Anderson. Hi, I'm a journalist. We're actually making a plot. We want to understand what kind of place this is and what happened 25 years ago when that first house went up in flames. This is the perfect place to live in. Phoenix, Arizona. Absolutely the perfect place. Nestled between Freeway 51 to the north and a panoramic view of the Phoenix Mountains preserve to the south, this area is filled with wildlife.

[Novel Narrator]

Little teeny tiny gecko, new baby gecko.

[Sam Anderson]

And with an active homeowners association, everyone seems to have a pretty good idea of what everyone else is doing around here.

[Novel Narrator]

I've had keys to every house in our cul de sac. You're looking out for the kids, picking them up at school if somebody needs help.

[Sam Anderson]

These folks aren't afraid to spill the tea about what their neighbors are up to.

[Novel Narrator]

If you just wouldn't have had a noisy Doberman, nobody would have cared.

[Sam Anderson]

From what I can tell, not a lot of bad stuff happens here.

[Novel Narrator]

We just had our first squatter. Teenagers like to climb the fence and swim in the pool.

[Sam Anderson]

The most shocking thing that ever happened in this neighborhood was that fateful day in April 2000 when the residents of Heritage Heights woke to the sound of sirens to find Lee Benson's soon to be mansion burned to the ground.

[Novel Narrator]

We didn't have fires like that. A lot of us gathered and went down there with our bikes. I mean, it was a big fire. It was scary as hell.

[Warren Jerrems]

I remember one time running by there with Mark and we just stopped and looked at the house, at how it had burned down, and there was just nothing there.

[Sam Anderson]

This is Warren Jerrems at the time of the fire, Warren also lived nearby. An accountant in his 40s, Warren was tall, wiry and physically fit. Built like an antelope, he lived with a wife and two young daughters. Before the fire, he'd frequently jog through the preserves with his running buddy Mark, passing Lee Benson's construction site along the way.

[Warren Jerrems]

It's just a rocky mountain trail that weaves and twists and turns and goes up and down, and we ran by that one regularly.

[Sam Anderson]

Warren and Mark watched as Lee's house sprouted up and out over the desert landscape. All 10,000 square feet of it, complete with a four car garage and even a martial arts Studio.

[Warren Jerrems]

It was much bigger than anything else in the neighborhood and it was encroaching on the desert.

[Sam Anderson]

At the time, urban sprawl was a pretty big issue in Phoenix.

[Warren Jerrems]

Phoenix is just a large growing city that was eating up the desert.

[Sam Anderson]

The particular preserve that borders Heritage Heights is one of many scattered across the city like desert islands emerging from a sea of residential housing. If you live next to one, it's like having a little bit of nature right on your doorstep. So Lee Benson's construction plans ruffled a few feathers. The locals are protective of these places, but was it really so out of place that someone would try to burn it down?

[Lee Benson]

It's my property and I get to do whatever I want with it.

[Sam Anderson]

Lee was not going to be influenced by the tension in the neighborhood.

[Lee Benson]

I'm on private property that I purchase, not bordering any part of the preserve. It's all bs.

[Sam Anderson]

What Lee is saying is true. The problem is it's not always clear to locals where exactly the preserve ends and private land begins. It's easy to mistake a vacant desert lot right by the preserve as part of the preserve, when actually it's just private land that no one's gotten around to building on yet. Technicalities aside, what mattered to Lee Benson's new neighbors was that an enormous mansion was being built directly between their homes and their previously uninterrupted view of a beloved mountain landscape. And Lee Benson himself, well, he didn't quite fit in with the neighborhood either. This community was mostly upper middle class doctors, real estate agents, quiet professionals raising families. Lee was, and still is a high powered CEO. He's middle aged with a buzz cut, bright blue eyes and a charming smile. He's a business owner, an author, a martial arts teacher, and he even achieved that most glorious title we all aspire. A podcaster.

[Lee Benson]

Hello and welcome to the show youw Value Podcast where we explore the art of value creation in three macro buckets.

[Sam Anderson]

Point is, the man is successful and he's definitely perceived as a bit flashy. Back at the time of the fire, Lee was hard at work creating value.

[Lee Benson]

Right around 2000, I'm running my full time taekwondo martial arts school and I'm operating three different aerospace related businesses.

[Sam Anderson]

Not only was the guy rich, he was fit too.

[Lee Benson]

I've done lots of marathons, ultramarathons, competed in three different Ironmans. I just love to exercise.

[Sam Anderson]

Not only was he rich and fit, he played guitar in a hard rock band. That's Lee on guitar.

[Lee Benson]

Band was called 3 Degrees West. Played over a thousand nights on stages, clubs, concerts all of that. So music's going on, martial arts is going on, I've got my aerospace companies going on. Life is full and amazing.

[Sam Anderson]

His life was so full and amazing that when his custom dream home got torched, he refused to let it set him back.

[Lee Benson]

Sometimes bad things happen and just deal with it.

[Sam Anderson]

What was your reaction?

[Lee Benson]

There's no way I'm going to let somebody like that win. No way. It's like, okay, this happened. What's the plan and where do we go from here?

[Sam Anderson]

The plan was this rebuild. Same as before. Put up a little security fencing, hire a security guard. But not a professional security guard, just someone he connected with through his taekwondo studio.

[Lee Benson]

Just somebody to be on the property with a phone to call if there was any issues.

[Sam Anderson]

The security guard would drive over to Lee Benson's after work to sit in his car and watch over the place all night. He'd do this after working all day at his day job. Can you imagine working a desk job all day just asleep in your car while anxiously waking up every couple hours to make sure a mansion's not burned down? Sounds exhausting. That's probably why on the morning of October 1, six months after Lee's house burned down, the guy decides to leave a little bit early, around 5:15, about an hour before sunrise.

[Lee Benson]

He wasn't supposed to, but he did.

[Sam Anderson]

By 5:34am, Lee Benson's house is on fire again. Brian Parks and his firefighters rush to the scene.

[Battalion Chief Brian Parks]

Coming in there a second time, you have a really weird feeling as why is this being burned in twice?

[Sam Anderson]

And again, Lee shows up to see his grand vision reduced to a smoldering wreck.

[Lee Benson]

I was angry. I can't believe this. This is such a waste of resources.

[Sam Anderson]

Standing before the burnt remains, Lee gazes across at the neighboring streets full of single family houses in neat rows.

[Lee Benson]

I remember looking at the houses and thinking, whoever it is lives there or knows somebody there because somebody has to be watching to know this guy left a few minutes early that day.

[Sam Anderson]

In the days after the second fire, another message is found at the scene of the crime. This time in the form of a letter. It contains a chilling message from Lee. Thou shalt not desecrate God's creation. Lee Benson. Take your dream house out of the preserve.

[Amy Gitler]

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[Sam Anderson]

Halloween, a grisly crime stunned the seaport town of Anacortes, Washington.

[Novel Narrator]

Mark was known as the dog whisperer of Anacortes.

[Sam Anderson]

They soon discovered a story tangled in obsession. Who was the hunter and who was the hunted? Follow and listen to Train to Kill the Dog, Train, the Heiress and the Bodyguard on the Free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. Lieutenant Rob Handy is sitting in his office at the Phoenix Police Department headquarters. He's a big, serious looking guy with a buzz cut. He's only in his early 30s, but he already has a reputation for being intense and pretty competitive when it comes to catching bad guys. In his hand is the note left behind at the scene of the second fire, proof that Lee Benson's new home has been deliberately burnt down.

[Lieutenant Rob Handy]

Again, it says warning across the top that looks like it's been almost stenciled with two exclamation points.

[Sam Anderson]

The fire department can't handle something like this alone, so they've called in the police and Rob is tasked with leading the investigation. But so far, he only has one lead, the piece of paper in his hand. Whoever wrote the letter has taken steps to conceal their identity.

[Lieutenant Rob Handy]

Underneath it is type from a computer imprinted, but then the top looks like it's more scrawled.

[Sam Anderson]

The letter goes straight into the ominous Thou shalt not desecrate God's creation line.

[Lieutenant Rob Handy]

And then it has Revelations 14:10 and then Proverbs 17:19.

[Sam Anderson]

The two biblical passages it refers to are kind of on the scarier side. They too will drink the wine of God's fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath.

[Lieutenant Rob Handy]

And then it says, we are not done, Lee Benson. Take your dream house out of the preserve. Security will be defeated again We've been trained well, thanks.

[Sam Anderson]

At least this fire and brimstone arsonist is polite. Rob's eyes are drawn to the wheat. Is there a group behind this attack? And what's up with the signature CSP.

[Lieutenant Rob Handy]

Again, with periods between it as if it were an acronym?

[Sam Anderson]

CSP is not an acronym Rob or his team have heard of before.

[Lieutenant Rob Handy]

The first thing that came to mind was, was this an environmental group?

[Sam Anderson]

An environmental group with a sprinkling of religious extremism.

[Lieutenant Rob Handy]

So obviously we were looking like crazy. And this is early on with the Internet, too. It's not like it is today. Right. I mean, we were just not able to find anything. We thought this might be bogus. They might be trying to throw us off. Why would they identify themselves so easily? Or is this a group that's trying to establish themselves and this is their first foray into criminal activity?

[Sam Anderson]

Do you remember what it felt like reading that note?

[Lieutenant Rob Handy]

Yeah. Now he's messing with us.

[Sam Anderson]

He, not they.

[Lieutenant Rob Handy]

Honestly, our consideration initially was that somebody who hikes the trail every day, I mean, that's kind of what our thinking was to begin with. A pissed off neighbor.

[Sam Anderson]

Rob's got a hunch that their perp is a lone actor, someone who lives nearby, someone who just does not like Lee Benson and his gaudy mansion. Probably a man Rob thinks, after all, the vast majority of arsonists are mentioning. And Lee, he thinks the same thing. To him, this feels personal.

[Lee Benson]

I was getting pressure from neighbors to donate the land to the preserve, and people made me out to be like, the devil. It was crazy.

[Sam Anderson]

But as you've gathered already, Lee isn't the type to give up for sure.

[Lee Benson]

I'm going to build again.

[Sam Anderson]

Only by this point, he's got a new problem.

[Lee Benson]

Nobody would insure me.

[Sam Anderson]

Lee can't rebuild until CSP is caught.

[Lee Benson]

So then my efforts just focused on how do I help find this individual so I can start building it again.

[Sam Anderson]

But then news reaches Lee Benson that changes everything for the whole neighborhood.

[Lee Benson]

You know, it was super unfortunate and a little bit relieving for me personally when another home was burned down.

[Sam Anderson]

Another, a third fire. And this one didn't target Lee Benson. It was just a couple miles away along the preserve border, another new home under construction. This one was owned by a family with young kids. And another house fire overnight may be the work of a serial arsonist. CSP strikes again. A fourth fire. This one was near Warren's place. The guy who would go running in the preserves.

[Warren Jerrems]

It was within a mile or so of where I lived on the Gal mountains.

[Sam Anderson]

The neighborhood is buzzing with speculation.

[Warren Jerrems]

We couldn't really figure out what the cause of it was.

[Sam Anderson]

By now the pattern is crystal clear. All the half built homes that have been burned are big and fancy and situated along the edge of the mountain's preserve. And it's not long before the letters with all their religious fury are leaked to the press. A frightening narrative begins to take shape in the local media. There's some radical God fearing environmentalists on the loose and they're exacting revenge on anyone who dares to build too close to the preserve. A new letter appears, this time mailed directly to journalists who forward it to the police. The letter says, quote, we enjoy watching the surveillance activity. No trap works unless you walk into it. Don't bet on it. And there in the signature of that letter is the answer to a question Lt. Rob Handy has been asking for months.

[Lieutenant Rob Handy]

Coalition to Save the Preserves.

[Sam Anderson]

CSP stands for Coalition to Save the Preserves.

[Lieutenant Rob Handy]

There's an eco terrorist group running around Phoenix burning homes.

[Novel Narrator]

An environmental terrorist.

[Sam Anderson]

Eco terror campaign of arson.

[Amy Gitler]

We may have an eco terrorist on our hands.

[Sam Anderson]

It's probably been a while since you heard the phrase eco terrorism. It doesn't happen very often these days. But there was a time not too long ago in the late 1990s when this was a big deal. At this particular moment in history, before 9 11, one of the biggest threats the feds were worried about wasn't terrorists flying airplanes into buildings, but left wing environmentalists and one group in particular, the Earth Liberation Front, or elf.

[Kaley Cuoco]

Members of the Earth Liberation Front say it's okay to destroy property in an effort to save the environment.

[Sam Anderson]

The ELF is absolutely an environmental fundamentalist group. The group described by the FBI as America's most ser serious domestic terrorist threat. If you're somebody else who's destroying the natural environment, you may be considered the next target of the elf or a group life. Now by December of 2000, local journalists are really starting to run with the eco terror story because you know what the elf's favorite tactic was. For the first time since flames were spotted on Vail Mountain, investigators Thursday were willing to say the fires were caused by the criminal act of arson. One of the group's most famous acts of protest occurred just a few years earlier in 1998. Vail residents awoke to shocking news Monday. Fire atop Vail mountain had caused $12 million in damages. @ the time, Vail was expanding its ski resort, encroaching on hundreds of acres of pristine wilderness that was home to endangered wildcats. The attack became the costliest act of so called eco terrorism in in US History. And before long, ELF starts burning things down all over the country. Always following an ideology of protecting the environment through property destruction without the loss of human life. And when the ELF burned down a building, they became known for leaving a particular catchphrase. The words, you build, we burn. It's the existence exact same phrase included on the letters from CSP in Phoenix. Looking at all these similarities, it seems a pretty good bet to journalists and investigators that the ELF is somehow involved in the Phoenix fires. The only problem is the ELF signs their letters elf, not csp. Could this be a splinter group? Lieutenant Rob Handy is painfully aware of all this speculation. But despite the intrigue of a national activist cell emerging in Phoenix, he still has a hunch that the culprit might just be a local with a grudge against new houses. An extreme act of NIMBYism.

[Lieutenant Rob Handy]

Somebody's just trying to throw us off by this name. And there is no group.

[Sam Anderson]

Which theory is right? Well, there's not much hard proof either way. The funny thing about fire is that it tends to destroy the evidence. So for now, Rob focuses on canvassing the neighborhood.

[Lieutenant Rob Handy]

We're looking for leads, we're asking for help. Our investigators were going door to door.

[Sam Anderson]

So far, whoever's behind these fires has managed to get in and out without being seen.

[Lieutenant Rob Handy]

Always one step ahead of us. Initially, it just made you mad. It made you more angry.

[Sam Anderson]

Rob has spent hours just staring at the map of the fires, searching for a pattern. Where will CSP strike next?

[Lieutenant Rob Handy]

It's a chase. You know, you're chasing them, they're trying to get away, you're trying to catch them, and they're trying to not leave clues. And we're trying to find clues. It's like trying to solve a hard puzzle.

[Sam Anderson]

Is it frustrating knowing that one guy or group of people is outsmarting like a whole police department?

[Lieutenant Rob Handy]

Oh, for sure, for sure. You know, how's this gonna stop? Is he just gonna quit? We gonna catch him? Or is somebody gonna die?

[Sam Anderson]

The community is restless. It's December, around nine months since the first fire at Lee Benson's. The people living around the preserve are frustrated with the cops who haven't made a single arrest and seem totally incapable of protecting them from future attacks.

[Lieutenant Rob Handy]

There was a risk the entire time of it spreading to neighbors homes or burning an entire neighborhood. I felt like it was my responsibility.

[Sam Anderson]

We Lieutenant Rob decides to call a community meeting.

[Lieutenant Rob Handy]

I asked for the meeting and asked if we could host it at Tim's house.

[Sam Anderson]

Tim and his wife Peggy are victims of the fourth fire. Their $1.5 million home was nearly complete when it became a target of csp. A room upstairs burned, but the rest of the house was saved by the quick work of firefighters. After the fire, Tim and Peggy installed barbed wire fencing, motion sensors, and a lighting system. They started warning hikers out in the preserve to be on the lookout for strange behavior. Lieutenant Rob decides to hold a community meeting at Tim and Peggy's place, where the acrid smell of smoke still lingers.

[Lieutenant Rob Handy]

It was in his front living room, and that was the first big public interaction we had.

[Sam Anderson]

It's Saturday morning. About a dozen community members gather around the empty room to learn whatever they can from the police. Everyone is waiting for Rob to speak.

[Lieutenant Rob Handy]

Starting off like introducing ourselves, giving out our information, phone numbers, asking for information, sharing what limited information we could share, what we were doing and how important it was to us as a police department, hear their ideas or their concerns and do what we could to address those.

[Sam Anderson]

Some neighbors complain about slow response times from investigators. Others say not enough resources are being devoted to the case. One neighbor spells it all out. We're all threatened. It's not just neighbors building homes. Rob tries to reassure everyone that the case is a top priority. He's trying his best, but it's not going well.

[Lieutenant Rob Handy]

They're upset at a lot of things. This neighborhood sits up against the preserve. So all these people are fearful. What's next? Is somebody going to get hurt? Is somebody else's house going to burn? Whose house is it my house? Is it your house?

[Sam Anderson]

I imagine the neighbors exchanging paranoid glances. Any one of them could be an arsonist. Lieutenant Rob can't share everything his team is doing in front of this crowd of neighbors.

[Lieutenant Rob Handy]

We didn't know who was in the audience and I mean, that proved out.

[Sam Anderson]

A blond haired woman lingers in the back of the crowd. She's not one of the neighbors.

[Lieutenant Rob Handy]

Afterwards, she came up and introduced herself, said, hey, I'm Terry from the FBI.

[Sam Anderson]

I was probably in a suit, so that probably stood out because, you know, your typical FBI agent. This is Terry Kearns, at the time an FBI special agent. She's young and new to Phoenix. Terry was a nurse before the FBI recruited her. She's confident with a reassuring presence, but not to Rob.

[Lieutenant Rob Handy]

Honestly, I was offended she was there and didn't introduce herself to begin with.

[Sam Anderson]

I didn't know who all was going to be there. I didn't know what was going on. I really just wanted to see what was being done. Anyone who's ever watched a cop movie, knows they hate it when another agency moves in on their turf.

[Lieutenant Rob Handy]

We felt it was a neighborhood problem. We didn't feel like it was a federal government problem. And I'd worked with the FBI before, and this isn't their forte.

[Sam Anderson]

Houses have been burning for nine months by this point, and the Phoenix PD has basically nothing to show for it. So I'm not sure it's Rob's forte either. But Rob tells Terry he doesn't want to form a task force with the FBI. Phoenix PD can handle it on their own, but it's not long before things start spinning out of Rob's control.

[Novel Narrator]

The phone rang about 9 o'clock at night and the cousin of one of my cousins lived around the corner from here and she said, amy, I hate to be an alarmist, but I think your house is on fire.

[Sam Anderson]

Want More True Crime? Subscribe to the binge to get all episodes of the Arsonist Next Door ad free today and get instant access to over 50 other Jaw Dropping true crime stories. Plus subscribers get a binge drop of a brand new series on the first of every month. Search for the binge channel on Apple Podcasts or head to getthebinge.com to subscribe today.

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[Novel Narrator]

Go to your happy price, Priceline. I was in a women's organization and it was a luncheon and I believe it was at the Phoenix Country Club.

[Sam Anderson]

It's a mild and perfect day in December. Amy Gitler and her friends gaze out at the lush green golf course, which I'm sure consumes an absolutely obscene amount of water. But this is of no concern to the leading ladies of Phoenix who I like to picture snacking on tiny triangle shaped sandwiches served on a silver platter. Amy is a seasoned lawyer who once argued a case in front of the Supreme Court. She has short cropped red hair and a serious but friendly personality. During the luncheon, one of her friends approaches looking concerned.

[Novel Narrator]

She came up and she said, amy, Amy, what about this art arsonist who's burning down houses.

[Sam Anderson]

Amy and her husband are in the middle of building their new home. It's on a plot of land that happens to be located right on the edge of the Phoenix Mountains Preserve. But Amy tells her friend she isn't so concerned about these arson attacks.

[Novel Narrator]

Missive? Don't be silly, Karen. That's on the other side of the preserve.

[Sam Anderson]

The fires are happening on the other side of the mountain from where Amy's new house is being built.

[Novel Narrator]

And literally that night is the night that we got the phone call.

[Sam Anderson]

Back at home around 9pm Amy has just put her two kids to bed when the landline rings. It's a relative who lives nearby. They can see the red glow of a fire in the direction of Amy's new place. She rushes over.

[Novel Narrator]

I see crowds of people in front, and they wouldn't let anybody through. I see huge flames billowing out, and it's carved off and nobody's allowed up. And I said, that's my house. I want up. And so they let us up.

[Sam Anderson]

When Amy gets to the front of the crowd, she realizes those huge flames aren't from her own property, but the one next door.

[Novel Narrator]

The lot next to us was fully framed, and they had not been building for about a year. That house was like tinder. I mean, you lit a match to that and that went down in about 15 minutes.

[Sam Anderson]

The neighbor's place is reduced to ash. Amy's house was set on fire too, but firefighters were able to put it out before the fire really got going. Luckily, only the bathroom is affected, but Amy is still shaken by what happened.

[Novel Narrator]

I was barely functioning the next day, and I remember I had such a horrible headache. I took two codeine. I just remember a sense of chaos. Law enforcement thought that likely he would return to our place.

[Sam Anderson]

After all. CSP burned Lee Benson's house twice, and Amy's place was saved and shown on the news. So the cops set up camp inside Amy's construction site in order to catch.

[Novel Narrator]

Him if he came back. And keep in mind, there's no roof. It's just framed.

[Sam Anderson]

Lieutenant Rob Handy and his team aren't just camping in this site. They're camping all over the place. Undercover cops are posted up in unmarked cars throughout the neighborhood, trying their best to not look like cops. But Rob's team is spread pretty thin. They don't have unlimited resources, and there's a huge area to cover. Meanwhile, someone or a group of people is sneaking around, somehow getting past you guys to light these houses on fire.

[Lieutenant Rob Handy]

Or we weren't in the right area, right. The preserve is enormous.

[Sam Anderson]

But Rob is hopeful because his team has finally uncovered a suspect.

[Lieutenant Rob Handy]

They had some hardcore environmental leanings and had some light criminal history.

[Sam Anderson]

This guy had a sign in his window protesting development. Someone had called in to the police to report him as suspicious. And not only that, he lived up.

[Lieutenant Rob Handy]

Against a preserve in an old house and was kind of a hermit. They'd been there for a long time. Development had gone on around him.

[Sam Anderson]

Keep in mind the Sonoran Desert is being rapidly gobbled up by developers at this time. A report in the Arizona Republic uses He uses the phrase an acre an hour to describe how fast the city of Phoenix is expanding into the surrounding desert.

[Lieutenant Rob Handy]

We spent a lot of time surveilling him, watching him doing everything we could. We did search warrants, we looked at his trash. We did all kinds of stuff.

[Sam Anderson]

For the first time since this case began, Rob is starting to feel hopeful that he's onto something. But then he the entire sky over the mountain was glowing. Another house goes up in flames.

[Lieutenant Rob Handy]

People were upset, scared, fearful.

[Sam Anderson]

Things are about to get a lot more complicated.

[Lieutenant Rob Handy]

I'm glad you guys are doing this story.

[Sam Anderson]

This is a story about fire and betrayal with world changing consequences.

[Lieutenant Rob Handy]

I believe it really had some consequences on world events. Think about every aspect of your life that that day changed. I mean, my God, that's real terrorism.

[Sam Anderson]

That's coming up on the Arsonist Next Door. Don't want to wait for that next episode? You don't have to unlock all episodes of the Arsonist Next Door ad free right now by subscribing to the Binge Podcast channel. Search for the binge on Apple Podcasts and hit subscribe at the top of the page. Not on apple. Head to getthebinge.com to get access wherever you listen. As a subscriber, you'll get binge access to new stories on the 1st of every month. Check out the Binge Channel page on apple podcasts or getthebinge.com to learn more. The Arsonist Next Door is an original production of Sony Music Entertainment and Novel. This series was written and reported by me, Sam Anderson. It was produced and reported by Leona Hamid. Our assistant producer is Madeline Parr. Research by Zayana Youssef. Additional production from Tom Wright and G. Stiles. Our editor is Dave Anderson. Additional story editing from Max O'Brien. From Novel. Our executive producers are Max O'Brien and Craig Strachan. From Sony Music Entertainment. Our executive producers are Kathryn St. Louis and Jonathan Hirsch. Sound design, mixing and scoring by Nicholas Alexander and Daniel Kempson. Our original theme song was composed and performed by Nicholas Alexander, Production Management from Cherie Houston, Joe Savage, Sarah Tobin and Charlotte Wolf. Fact Checking by Danya Soleiman Story Development by Nell Gray Andrews Novel's Director of development is Selena Mehta and Willard Foxton is Novel's Creative Director of development. Special thanks to Jen Fifield, Libby Gough, Bob Kahn, Xander Adams, Anthony Wallace, Steve Ackerman, Carolyn Shur, Levin and the team at Reviewed and cleared Mario Cacciotolo, Isaac Fisher, Kevin Lee, Carter Karas, Jess Swinburne, Sonny Marr, Karly Frankel and the team at WME Foreign Ryan Seacrest Here when you have a busy schedule, it's important to maximize your downtime. One of the best ways to do that is by going to chumbacasino.com Chumba Casino has all your favorite social casino games like spin slots, bingo and solitaire that you can play for free for a chance to redeem some season serious prizes. So hop on to chumbacasino.com now and live the Chumba Life Sponsored by Chumba Casino. No purchase necessary. VGW Group Void we're prohibited by law.

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