Cameron Todd Willingham (January 9, 1968 – February 17, 2004) was an American man who was convicted and executed for the murder of his three young children by arson at the family home in Corsicana, Texas, on December 23, 1991. Since Willingham's 2004 execution, significant controversy has arisen over the legitimacy of the guilty verdict and the interpretation of the evidence that was used to convict him of arson and murder.
Willingham's case and the investigative techniques were criticized by a 2004 Chicago Tribune article. The case was discussed again in a 2009 investigative report in The New Yorker. This coverage suggested that the arson evidence was misinterpreted. According to an August 2009 investigative report by an expert hired by the Texas Forensic Science Commission, the original claims of arson were doubtful.
The Corsicana Fire Department disputes the findings, stating that the report overlooked several key points in the record, such as that Willingham repeatedly changed his story about the fire and tampered with evidence during the investigation.
A 2011 documentary, Incendiary: The Willingham Case, also explored the case.
The case was complicated by allegations that Texas Governor Rick Perry impeded the investigation by replacing three of the nine Forensic Commission members to change the commission's findings; Perry denies the allegations.
In 2017, the prosecutor in the case, John Jackson, was cleared of allegations that he concealed evidence or negotiated a secret deal with Johnny Webb, a fellow inmate who testified that Willingham had confessed to setting the fire. According to prison letters from Webb, he faced a campaign of harassment by the Aryan Brotherhood for his testimony against Willingham, who was allegedly a member of the Aryan Brotherhood along with one of his half-brothers, who is currently serving a life sentence for his role in a 1988 murder spree.
Early life Willingham was born on January 9, 1968, in Ardmore, Oklahoma. He was raised by his father Gene, who owned an auto salvage yard in Ardmore, and his stepmother Eugenia, after his mother left when he was 13 months old. Willingham attended Ardmore High School before dropping out in 10th grade. As a teenager, he huffed paint and glue, and had "been on probation for burglary, theft and driving under the influence and did a few days in a county jail for carrying a concealed weapon".
In October 1991, Willingham married Stacy Kuykendall, with whom he had been living for several years. The couple had three daughters together: two-year-old Amber Louise Willingham, and one-year-old twins, Karmen Diane Willingham and Kameron Marie Willingham. The family lived in Corsicana, Texas. Willingham had been working as a mechanic, but lost his job in November 1991; Kuykendall worked in the nearby city of Angus at her brother's bar.
According to Ernest Willis, who spent 17 years on death row for allegedly killing two women in a fire that was later determined to be accidental, Willingham was a member of the Aryan Brotherhood. Willis thought Willingham was innocent and said his case was "just like mine." However, Willis said he felt that Willingham had wanted to be the "big dog" in regard to his involvement with the Aryan Brotherhood.
Willingham's half-brother, Davey Crockett, was reportedly also a member of the Aryan Brotherhood. In 1988, the year Willingham said he met Crockett, Crockett and an accomplice murdered four people in Texas and Arkansas. Willingham admitted that he had been in the same circle of friends as Crockett for a time, but denied any role in these murders.
During the sentencing phase of his murder trial, a witness testified that Willingham once bragged about how he and Crockett had stolen someone else's dog, beat it in the head with a stick, and ran it over with a car. Willingham denied the allegation.
Fire On December 23, 1991, a fire destroyed the family home of Willingham at 1213 West 11th Street in Corsicana, Texas. Killed in the fire were Willingham's three daughters: Amber Louise (2), Karmen Diane (1) and Kameron Marie (1). Willingham himself escaped the home with only minor burns. Kuykendall was not home at the time of the fire. She was out shopping for Christmas presents at a thrift shop.
Prosecutors charged that Willingham set the fire and killed the children in an attempt to cover up abuse of the children and wife. Kuykendall told prosecutors that he had never abused the children. "Our kids were spoiled rotten," she said, insisting he would never harm their children.
During a taped interview, Willingham did admit to "whupping" Amber on several occasions for messing with the space heater in the children's room.
Investigation and trial Evidence After the fire, the police investigation determined that the fire had been started using some form of a liquid accelerant. This evidence included a finding of char patterns in the floor in the shape of "puddles," a finding of multiple starting points of the fire, and a finding that the fire had burned "fast and hot," all considered to indicate a fire that had been ignited with the help of a liquid accelerant. The investigators also found charring under the aluminum front door jamb, which they believed was a further indication of a liquid accelerant and tested positive for such an accelerant in the area of the front door, inside the house. No clear motive was found at the time, and Willingham's wife denied that the couple had been fighting prior to the night of the fire.
Willingham drew suspicion after witness statements indicated that he had repeatedly changed his story about the fire. According to the witness statements, in at least one version of his escape, Willingham claimed he had kicked the front door down while it was burning. However, no burn marks were found on his feet. In another version, Willingham claimed he had gone out the back door, which was blocked by a refrigerator door.
Willingham's mother-in-law reported that he had told her that the investigators had found "unusual marks on Amber's neck" and predicted that they would accuse him of choking her and leaving her to die in the fire.
During a taped interview, Willingham claimed he had crawled around the children's room in an attempt to find them. He said that his hair was singed, he burned his hand on a melting slide, and his shoulder was burned after a piece of ceiling fell on him. He also suggested that the fire started in the children's room, saying he saw an orange glow there.
Shortly before his execution, Willingham confessed to his parents that he had never gone into the children's room. He said he lied to the investigators because he didn't want to be seen as a coward.
Willingham claimed that he heard what he thought was the ceiling fan crash in the children's room. However, there is no evidence that any such ceiling fan ever existed. Willingham did not report the existence of a ceiling fan in any of his written statements.
Former jurors later said a key factor in their decision to convict Willingham was that he had tampered with evidence. Shortly after the fire, Willingham told a firefighter that they would likely find cologne in the floor samples they were testing. He said he had poured cologne from the bathroom, through the hallway, to the children's room.
Witnesses Johnny Webb In addition to the arson evidence presented at the trial, a jailhouse informant named Johnny Webb testified at that time. His testimony has been criticized as contentious for several reasons. Webb claimed that Willingham confessed that he set the fire to hide an injury or death of one of the girls, which was caused by his wife. However, none of the girls were found at the time of death to have physical injuries that were still distinguishable after the effects of the fire. Webb later told David Grann, a reporter for The New Yorker, that he might have been mistaken. He said he was prescribed many medications at that point while being treated for bipolar disorder.
At Willingham's trial, Webb offered an explanation for the individual, distinguishable burns found on Amber's forehead and arm. He said that Willingham confessed to burning her twice with a piece of "wadded up" paper in an effort to make it appear as though the children were "playing with fire."
In letters written from prison, Webb said he had faced continuous harassment and death threats from the Aryan Brotherhood for his testimony. Webb said the Aryan Brotherhood and corrupt prison guards repeatedly attempted to coerce him into recanting his testimony against Willingham.
The prosecutor in the case, John Jackson, noted that Webb was considered unreliable, but he later supported Webb's parole. He told the parole board that Webb had agreed to testify against Willingham despite being offered nothing in return for his testimony and after being warned that he could face retaliation from fellow inmates for being a cooperating witness.
In 1999, Webb was visited by Willingham's pen pal, Elizabeth Gilbert. After this visit, Webb's complaints of the threats by the Aryan Brotherhood resumed. According to Webb's letters, after talking with him, Gilbert allegedly informed Willingham about Webb's location, after which Willingham informed the Aryan Brotherhood.
In March 2000, Webb later Jackson a "Motion to Recant Testimony", which declared, "Mr. Willingham is innocent of all charges." Willingham's attorneys were not notified. Webb recanted his recantation days later. As for why he did not disclose Webb's recantation, Jackson presented letters by Webb, in which Webb gave him advance warning that the Aryan Brotherhood was forcing him to write a false recantation.
James Grigson During the penalty phase of the trial, the prosecution said that Willingham fit the profile of a sociopath. They presented evidence that Willingham had beaten his wife, including when she was pregnant, ran a woman off the road, threatened to murder two of his wife's relatives, and bragged about how he and his half-brother had once beaten and killed a dog. Controversially, however, the prosecution also used Willingham's tattoo of a skull and serpent as further evidence that he was a sociopath. Two medical experts confirmed the theory. One of those experts, a psychologist who had not published any research in the field of sociopathic behavior, but only held a master's degree in marriage and family issues was asked to interpret Willingham's Iron Maiden poster. He said that a picture of a fist punching through a skull signified violence and death. He added that Willingham's Led Zeppelin poster of a fallen angel was "many times" an indicator of "cultive-type" activities.
The other medical expert, psychiatrist James Grigson, known by the moniker "Dr. Death" for his repeated testimony as an expert witness in which he recommended the death penalty, said that a man of Willingham's criminal history was an "extremely severe sociopath" and was incurable. Grigson had served as an expert witness for the prosecution in murder trials across the state of Texas. Prior to his death, he was expelled by the American Psychiatric Association and the Texas Society of Psychiatric Physicians for unethical conduct. The APA said that Grigson had violated the organization's ethics code by
"Arriving at a psychiatric diagnosis without first having examined the individuals in question, and for indicating, while testifying in court as an expert witness, that he could predict with 100 per cent certainty that the individuals would engage in future violent acts."
Witnesses to the event and days after