Arson and the Art of Staging

Anthony Knowles had lived in a rural area in Arizona for almost 20 years. His younger years had been spent in Europe, where it was eventually learned from Interpol that he had been a member of the Irish Republic Army where he had been seriously injured by gunfire. Mr. Knowles had custody of his 11-year-old daughter following a divorce several years prior.  His ex-wife had moved to another state to escape his abuse and threats while trying to maintain regular contact with her daughter. Not surprisingly, Mr. Knowles had threatened to kill his wife if she contested his custody. Up to that point, his abuse had not been directed towards his daughter.

On a clear autumn evening, the local fire department was called to the Knowles residence regarding a report of fire inside the front room of the home. The fire was immediately identified as arson. Obvious ignitable liquid-pour patterns were seen on the living room furniture and wood floor in the living room. The front picture window was broken out partially, not sufficient to allow entry, but possibly enough for a container to be thrown through. The puzzling fact was that there was never a container found in the home. Someone it appeared had broken the window to “stage” forced entry without actually entering the house in the manner suggested by the broken window. All windows and doors were found in locked position.

Shortly after the fire department extinguished the fire and were conducting their investigation, a woman arrived stating she was Mr. Knowles business partner. Sally Portillo stated she was “house sitting” for Mr. Knowles who was currently incarcerated in the county jail for child abuse. One week prior to the fire, authorities had arrested Mr. Knowles after concerned neighbors heard him screaming and swearing at his daughter and subsequently found injuries to the child inflicted by Mr. Knowles. Ms. Portillo claimed that she in fact had just returned after she and several other friends had visited Mr. Knowles in jail. Her alibi appeared solid. The local police and fire departments had no experience in solving arson and left it to Mr. Knowles' insurance company to investigate if they wished.

Neighbor interviews established that since Mr. Knowles arrest, Ms. Portillo had been seen frequently at the residence. In fact, the very afternoon of the fire Ms. Portillo was seen loading boxes into her car from Mr. Knowles residence. The neighbors also noticed that Ms. Portillo had placed a number of "no trespassing" signs in the front yard that day. The neighbors had not seen or heard the window being broken, which is not readily visible from the road and could have been broken for some time prior to the fire. Most importantly, neighbors had seen Ms. Portillo arrive at the residence shortly before the discovery of the fire, go inside briefly, then depart with her headlights off. A total of six witnesses were located corroborating the activity of Ms. Portillo the day of the fire.

Further investigation determined that several witnesses did see Ms. Portillo at the jail facility. These were individuals known by both Mr. Knowles and Ms. Portillo whom she had hastily called the day prior asking that they “surprise” Mr. Knowles with a group visit. Ms. Portillo knew the jail did not have video surveillance cameras or accurate time logs kept of the visits. None of the witnesses remember actually seeing Ms. Portillo go in the secured visiting area. Instead she sent the other visitors in two at a time in accordance with visiting rules and explained she would wait until later. In this way, the witnesses all seemed to verify her alibi until they were carefully questioned. Ms. Portillo also attempted to provide an extra window of travel time claiming she traveled a route that took 30 minutes each way from Mr. Knowles residence. It was then learned that all the locals knew a shorter route which took only 15 minutes each way. The detailed interviews and time/event sequence showed that clearly Ms. Portillo had ample opportunity to have committed the arson. Mr. Knowles also admitted eventually that he had a romantic relationship with Ms. Portillo and that their “business” generated no provable income.

After many months of investigation, the County Attorney filed charges against both Ms. Portillo and Mr. Knowles since obviously Ms. Portillo was acting at his direction. They had both attempted to use the arson to commit insurance fraud to obtain money Mr. Knowles needed for attorneys and living expenses. The secondary benefit, was to attempt to discredit the witnesses in the child abuse case, which were the same neighbors that saw Ms. Portillo, arrive before the fire was discovered. The case was greatly complicated by the fact that both Mr. Knowles and Ms. Portillo attempted to derail the investigation by composing a multitude of complaints, lawsuits and letters directed at everyone from the local fire chief to US Senators and Congressmen. At one point, Ms. Portillo alleged this investigator committed extortion by threatening to have her prosecuted for arson unless Mr. Knowles dropped his insurance claim. This occurred after a conversation in which Ms. Portillo indicated she might be interested in making a confession if she was promised no prosecution. She was told that once the police become involved no such arrangements were possible with the insurance company. If Mr. Knowles continued his claim obviously the investigation would continue. The police detective assigned to investigate Ms. Portillo's "extortion" report summed it up this way, "So basically, you threatened her with justice." Needless to say, Mr. Knowles and Ms. Portillo ultimately lost all their civil cases including appeals as well as the many complaints they filed and frivolous requests to many sources in their quest for justice. Mr. Knowles eventually died from the effects of alcoholism. Ms. Portillo is still alive planning her next struggle for justice for the many wrongs life has dealt her.

Written by Philip Rust III
Copyright June 2009