True Crime/Paranormal/Conspiracy Theories Part VII

The Pillow Pyro: John Leonard Orr

John Leonard Orr (born April 26, 1949) is an American convicted serial arsonist, mass murderer, and former firefighter. A fire captain and arson investigator in Glendale, California, Orr was convicted of serial arson and four counts of murder; he is believed to have set nearly 2,000 fires in a 30-year arson spree, most of them between 1984 and 1991, making him the most prolific serial arsonist in American history.

During his arson spree, Orr had several nicknames "The Pillow Pyro" due to the location of the fires inside shops, the "Frito Bandito", and the "coin-tosser." Orr's modus operandi was to set fires using an incendiary timing device, usually comprising a lit cigarette with three matches wrapped in ruled yellow writing paper and secured by a rubber band, in stores while they were open and populated. He would also set small fires in the grassy hills to draw firefighters, leaving fires set in more congested areas unattended. He would sometimes be part of the firefighting crew that investigated the fires.

Early life

John Leonard Orr was born on April 26, 1949, in Los Angeles, California. He was one of three boys. His parents divorced when he was young. Following high school, Orr joined the US Air Force; in 1967, he was shipped out for basic training, later transferring to Air Force firefighting school. He was stationed in Spain, where he went on to marry his high school girlfriend. In 1970, he was transferred to Montana. He was honorably discharged from the Air Force in April 1971. In reflecting on his time in the military, Orr later said he did not like his commanding officers.

Orr returned to Los Angeles, where he applied to two police departments and two fire departments. During this time, his wife gave birth to his daughter. Orr and his first wife divorced not long after.

He was invited to test for the Los Angeles Police Department, and passed all the tests except for the psychological evaluation, prompting the LAPD to send him a letter saying he was unsuitable. Orr was then accepted to test for the Los Angeles Fire Department; he went through the fire academy but struggled with both the written and physical tests and was rejected. Desperate to be a firefighter, he applied to the Glendale Fire Department, which at the time was at the bottom in Los Angeles County for pay; he was accepted in 1974. Orr studied fire science at a local college and worked at a 7-Eleven and as store security at Sears part-time.

Orr earned a carry permit and applied to be a fire investigator. He was accepted, eventually attaining the rank of captain.

On October 10, 1984, in South Pasadena, California, a major fire broke out at an Ole's Home Center hardware store located in a shopping plaza. The store was destroyed by the fire, and four people were killed: a two-year-old child, the child's 50-year-old grandmother, a 26-year-old mother of two, and a 17-year-old employee. On the following day, fire investigators from around Southern California converged on the destroyed store and declared the cause to be an electrical fire. However, Orr, as a fire investigator, insisted that the cause was arson.

Orr was correct, of course, because he set the blaze. Speculation has been that he wanted his work to be recognized. Investigations showed that the fire was deliberately started in highly flammable polyurethane products, which caught fire very quickly, causing the fire to flash over very rapidly.

Investigation

In January 1987, a convention for fire investigators from California was held in the city of Fresno. During and after the convention, several suspicious fires were set in Bakersfield. This, combined with the recovery of a single unmatched fingerprint left on a piece of notebook paper as part of a time-delay incendiary device, led Captain Marvin G. Casey of the Bakersfield Fire Department (BFD) to suspect that a fire investigator from the Los Angeles area was responsible for these arsons.