Raymond Lee Oyler

Case overview

Raymond Lee Oyler was convicted for starting the 2006 Esperanza fire in Riverside County, California, that killed five firefighters and destroyed 34 houses and 20 outbuildings, damaging the pavement of State Route 243. He was sentenced to death on June 5, 2009.

Background

The Esperanza Fire was a wind-driven, arson-caused wildfire that started on October 26, 2006, in a river wash near Cabazon, California, west of Palm Springs, California. By October 29, 2006, it had burned over 61 square miles (160 km²) and was 85% contained. By October 30, 2006, the fire was fully contained.

Five firefighters were killed defending a vacant house locally known as the “Octagon,” which was ultimately destroyed by the fire: Jason McKay, Jess McLean, Daniel Najera, Mark Loutzenhiser, and Pablo Cerda.

The fire burned an estimated 40,200 acres (163 km²) before containment and resulted in the deaths of five firefighters and destruction of 34 houses and 20 outbuildings, as well as damage to the pavement of State Route 243. The damage the fire caused was estimated at more than $9 million, and it was described as the worst wildfire since 1994.

The fire spread rapidly in moderate Santa Ana winds and flammable brush due to its proximity to the Chapparal biome, charring 24,000 acres (97 km²) in 18 hours. In comparison, the Ventura County Day Fire burned 24,000 acres (97 km²) in two weeks. Reports stated that smoke from the fire could be smelled as far away as San Diego.

The firefighters who died were described as being overwhelmed when the winds shifted and blew the fire towards them. They were trying to defend a house above Cabazon that was ultimately lost.

Captain Mark Loutzenhiser, 43, from Idyllwild, California; Fire Engine Operator Jess “Gus” McLean, 27, from Beaumont, California; Assistant Fire Engine Operator Jason McKay, 27, from Apple Valley, California; Firefighter Pablo Cerda, 23, from Fountain Valley, California; and Firefighter Daniel Hoover/Najera, 20, from San Jacinto, California were killed defending the “Octagon House.”

It was stated that McLean and McKay died next to their fire engine without having time to enter it. Najera’s body was found to the west of the structures the firefighters were trying to protect.

The surviving two firefighters were transferred to Arrowhead Regional Medical Center, and Loutzenhiser succumbed to his injuries shortly after arriving. Cerda died at 5:08 PM PST on October 31, 2006 in Arrowhead Regional Medical Center from his injuries.

On October 26, 2006, FEMA announced it would pay 75% of the costs associated with fighting the fire. On October 27, 2006, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency in Riverside County and ordered flags at the California Capitol building and all California Department of Forestry stations to be flown at half-staff.

Firefighters from as far away as Alameda County worked to control the blaze.

Timeline

• October 26, 2006 — The Esperanza Fire started in a river wash near Cabazon, California, west of Palm Springs, California.
• October 27, 2006 — Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency in Riverside County and ordered flags to be flown at half-staff; FEMA announced it would pay 75% of the costs associated with fighting the fire.
• October 29, 2006 — The fire burned over 61 square miles (160 km²) and was 85% contained.
• October 30, 2006 — The fire was fully contained.
• October 31, 2006 — Pablo Cerda died at 5:08 PM PST in Arrowhead Regional Medical Center from his injuries.
• November 2, 2006 — The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department announced Oyler also was charged for involvement with the Esperanza Fire.
• November 5, 2006 — A public memorial was held at the San Manuel Amphitheater in Devore, California for the five fallen firefighters.
• March 6, 2009 — A Riverside jury returned a verdict of first-degree murder against Oyler for the deaths of the five firefighters killed in the fire.
• May 9, 2007 — Riverside County District Attorney Rod Pacheco said he planned to seek the death penalty against Oyler.
• June 5, 2009 — Oyler was sentenced to death for starting the 2006 Esperanza Fire.

The offence

The prosecution alleged that Oyler set multiple wildfires in the San Gorgonio Pass in summer 2006, including up to 25 fires leading up to the Esperanza Fire.

It was stated that Oyler used a combination of matches and cigarettes to start a fire in Cabazon at the base of the San Jacinto Mountains. The fire was described as reaching speeds of 40 mph and temperatures of 1,500 degrees, and as sweeping up hillsides rapidly in Santa Ana winds.

It was stated that a U.S. Forest Service firefighting crew was trying to save a house in a canyon when it was overwhelmed by a wall of flames. The firefighters killed were described as being part of Engine 57.

During trial proceedings, the defense conceded that Oyler set 11 fires, but disputed that he had set the 2006 Esperanza Fire that killed five firefighters.

The prosecutor’s allegations included that Oyler used a similar incendiary device in multiple incidents. In the Esperanza Fire, it was described as wooden matches bundled around a Marlboro cigarette with a rubber band and set in the brush. The cigarette was lit, providing an alleged escape time before the matches sparked the fire.

In opening statements, it was stated that Deputy District Attorney Michael Hestrin said Oyler had set more than 20 fires in the San Gorgonio Pass area in the months before the fatal blaze, with fires described as growing from 10 acres to 60 acres to 1,500 acres.

Investigation

A nearly $600,000 reward was offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the arsonist(s), and several government and private agencies donated to it. The State of California, Riverside County, San Bernardino County, Morongo Band of Mission Indians, Soboba Band of Luiseño Indians, and Tim Blixseth, a Coachella Valley logging industry magnate, each donated $100,000.

Prosecutors alleged that surveillance and investigations connected evidence to Oyler’s serial arson activity. The information included references to DNA on cigarette butts and items allegedly found in his car.

It was stated that investigators posted surveillance cameras on telephone poles in remote areas and strategized about catching the person they believed was responsible for many fires.

Arrest

The Riverside County Sheriff Department’s Central Homicide Unit arrested Raymond Lee Oyler, a mechanic from Beaumont, on October 31, 2006 for setting two wildfires in the summer of 2006.

Inside his car, authorities reportedly found “a wig, latex gloves, cigarettes, black spray paint and a partially burned slingshot” that Hestrin said was used to launch incendiary devices into the brush. His DNA was reportedly found on two cigarette butts used in other nearby wildfires.

Oyler’s girlfriend reportedly told police that he had bragged about setting fires and had complained that they weren’t big enough, and that she threatened to leave if he did not stop, so he quit for six months, according to Hestrin.

Charges

The Riverside County District Attorney’s office charged Oyler with almost two dozen counts of arson and 17 counts of setting fires with an incendiary device, and it was described that he was charged with murder and arson related to the Esperanza Fire.

A 2006 statement described that he was charged with five counts of first-degree murder, 23 counts of arson, and 17 counts of possession of materials to commit arson, and that he pleaded not guilty to all charges.

At arraignment, Oyler entered a plea of not guilty on all 26 counts, and he was described as being charged with murder and arson.

Another 2006 report stated that, along with murder, he was charged with 11 counts of arson and 10 counts of possession of materials to commit arson.

He was also charged with starting 10 other fires in the same San Gorgonio Pass area since early June.

On November 11, 2006, it was announced that Oyler was also a suspect in the 2003 Old Fire, and another person was later convicted of setting that fire.

Trial

Proceedings and evidence

A trial began in early 2009, and it was described as lasting more than a month. Jurors were shown graphic photos during testimony. It was stated that the jury foreman described the panel as initially having difficulty determining whether Oyler was guilty of setting the Esperanza Fire until they began tying together the smaller blazes.

A truck driver testified that he spoke to Oyler at a gas station shortly after the fire started, and Oyler told him that the fire “is happening just the way I thought it would.”

It was stated that Oyler’s girlfriend told police that he bragged about setting fires and had complained they weren’t big enough, and that she threatened to leave him if he did not stop. It was stated that she threatened to leave him, and he quit for six months.

Defence position

The defense conceded that Oyler set 11 fires but argued that he did not set the 2006 Esperanza Fire that killed five firefighters.

Mark McDonald, Oyler’s attorney, stated that Hestrin had Oyler “dead to rights” on setting many of the smaller fires, but not the Esperanza Fire. McDonald also stated that Oyler usually set fires by laying matches over a lighted cigarette, not with the kind of device used in the Esperanza Blaze. McDonald argued that Oyler was a scapegoat and disputed the evidence linking Oyler to the Esperanza Fire.

McDonald stated:

“Raymond Oyler's fight is against human emotions, it's the fight against the death of five heroes.”
“We want to hold someone accountable. There is an overwhelming urge by the public to find somebody. That somebody was Raymond Oyler.”

McDonald said Oyler was home with his infant daughter the night of the fire, and that evidence pointed to at least one other arsonist working in the area at the time.

In a separate discussion of preliminary evidence, McDonald was quoted rejecting prosecutors’ theories, saying:

“I'm not saying he hasn't set any fires,” he said later outside court, “just not the Esperanza fire.”

Sentencing

Death penalty phase and sentence

After deliberation, a Riverside County jury returned a verdict of death for Raymond Lee Oyler for starting the 2006 Esperanza Fire in the foothills of the San Jacinto Mountains that killed five firefighters and destroyed 34 homes while charring more than 41,000 acres.

Judge W. Charles Morgan sentenced Oyler to death on June 5, 2009.

Judge W. Charles Morgan’s remarks included:

“He became more and more proficient,” said Riverside County Superior Court Judge W. Charles Morgan. “He knew young men and women would put their lives on the line to protect people and property, yet he continued anyway.”

Judge W. Charles Morgan’s sentencing pronouncement included:

“You shall suffer the death penalty, with said penalty to be inflicted within the walls of San Quentin.”

Oyler smiled and laughed with his attorney after sentencing, and his relatives quietly cried.

Appeals

No appeal content was provided in the source.

Outcome

Oyler was sentenced to death on June 5, 2009.

The jury had returned a verdict of first-degree murder against Oyler on March 6, 2009 for the deaths of the five firefighters killed in the fire.

Aftermath

Public memorials and support

A public memorial was held on November 5, 2006 at the San Manuel Amphitheater in Devore, California for the five fallen firefighters.

The community (worldwide) donated over $1.3 million to the Central County United Way and nearly $400,000 to the Wildland Firefighter Foundation in support of the families of the fallen firefighters. Donations to surviving families were received from the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Spain, Portugal, France, and the UK.

It was stated that the United States Congress and the California Legislature passed laws to ensure funds would go to families without taxation of the receiving families, and that donors would be able to consider donations as tax deductible.

Riverside County was establishing a fund to help the families of the firefighters who were killed fighting the fire.

Events postponed and mapping mission

An October 27 concert at the Soboba Casino by country music star Alan Jackson was indefinitely postponed because the venue was a short distance from the fire line and authorities did not wish to allow more people in the area than necessary.

The California Office of Emergency Services requested NASA support. In under 24 hours, the General Atomics Altair (NASA variant of the Predator B) was launched on a 16-hour mission to map the perimeter of the fire. The Altair had just returned from a test mission a day before the Esperanza Fire started. The fire mapping research was described as a joint project with NASA and the U.S. Forest Service.

Other details

Victims and injuries

The killed firefighters were Mark Loutzenhiser (43), Jess McLean (27), Jason McKay (27), Daniel Hoover/Najera (20), and Pablo Cerda (23).

Cerda died after being taken to Arrowhead Regional Medical Center with burns over 90% of his body. Loutzenhiser succumbed to injuries shortly after arriving at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center. The surviving two firefighters were transferred to Arrowhead Regional Medical Center.

Other alleged fires and evidence described

Investigators alleged that Oyler’s DNA was linked to two fires ignited in June in the San Gorgonio Pass and that a Ford Taurus—later traced to Oyler—was the only vehicle captured on tape entering the remote Mias Canyon area within minutes of an arson there and just four days before the Esperanza Fire.

It was stated that authorities alleged incendiary devices used in June fires involved wooden matches placed atop a lighted cigarette, and that the device allegedly used at the Esperanza Fire involved a Marlboro cigarette and six wooden matches held together with a rubber band.

Prior run-ins with the law and personal history mentioned

It was stated that Oyler pleaded guilty to auto theft in San Bernardino County in 1995.

It was also stated that six years later, Oyler pleaded guilty to possession of a controlled substance there.

Riverside County birth records were described as showing that Oyler fathered a daughter in 1987 when he was 16, with the mother being 15 at the time, and the baby being born at Riverside Community Hospital.

A restraining order petition described Oyler as “violent” and as engaging in drug trafficking, and it described him as paranoid and unpredictable, including allegations that he hit walls. The petition also stated that his former father-in-law described Oyler as a “lowlife.”

Co-workers at Highland Springs Automotive described Oyler favorably and discussed his interactions with homeless people and his family. Mechanic Jason King described photos of Oyler’s girlfriend and their 7-month-old daughter in Oyler’s toolbox. General manager Jason Walden described Oyler’s conduct at work and said Oyler told him investigators wanted him to take a polygraph test and that when he refused, “detectives told him they were going to make his life a living hell.”

Quotes and statements from named individuals

Riverside County Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael Hestrin made statements in court and to jurors, including:

“If Esperanza had been his first fire, I'm not sure this would have been a death penalty case. You could say he didn't know what would happen. But he knew what would happen here,” he said.
“He didn't care about what he did. It's amazing more people weren't killed.”

After leaving the courtroom, Efren Ayala said he would likely be “the farthest place from it” when asked if he would attend Oyler’s execution, and Ayala also stated: “Ultimately, he has one judge and that is God.”

At trial, Hestrin described Oyler to jurors:

“Those five men were killed by a man who taught himself to use fire as a weapon,”
“The fire washed over them. It tore the flesh from their bodies. At that moment, Raymond Oyler took everything from those men -- everything they were and everything they would ever be.”

A statement attributed to Hestrin included:

“Raymond Oyler set this fire and killed these five brave men,” Hestrin told jurors. “Hold him accountable for murder. That's what he did. He killed these men.”

Gloria Ayala made victim-impact statements quoted in full, including:

“I will never see the children he would have had. I will never hear 'I love you, Mom' in his voice ever again. The pain of never seeing my son again is unbearable,” she said as she struggled to retain her composure. “Not only have you destroyed my family, but you destroyed your own family.”

Gloria Ayala also stated:

“For the last 2 1/2 years, life has been unbearable,” Gloria Ayala, the mother of Daniel Hoover-Najera, one of the firefighters killed in the blaze.
“Danny is no longer down the hallway, no longer a conversation away. This loss is almost too much, but now justice will be served.”
“I harbor no anger, only hope that you understand the depth of pain you caused us and your family,” Ayala said.
“More importantly, I forgive you for the act that took my son's life.”

Cecilia McLean made quoted remarks including:

“I turn down invitations to go places with family and friends because I never know when something will trigger a memory of Jess,” she said.
“I'm a mother and my job is to protect my children. I couldn't protect Jess and I'll never forgive myself. We have had to hear and see images that will stay with us forever. Not once have I seen any remorse from Raymond Oyler.”

Josh McLean stated:

“He stole something from us that he cannot repay,” he told the judge in the silent courtroom.
“I hope, sir, that you sentence him to die for what he did to my brother because that is justice. There is nothing fair you can do to make this right, but you can give us a little closure.”

Heather Oyler made statements quoted including:

“It has been very emotional,” she said.
“It touched me to hear that [the firefighters' families] think about us. We feel just as bad for them as they do for us. If Ray could talk to them, I think he would tell them he didn't do it. He feels bad for them.”
“It has been very emotional,” she said. “It touched me to hear that [the firefighters' families] think about us. We feel just as bad for them as they do for us. If Ray could talk to them, I think he would tell them he didn't do it. He feels bad for them.”
She said she still believes her father is innocent.

Firefighters and prosecutors made statements quoted including Riverside County Fire Chief John Hawkins pronouncing Oyler’s “reign of terror” over, and prosecutor Michael Hestrin saying:

“The men of Engine 57 truly were the best of us,” he said.
“When everyone else was running away from the fire, they were running toward it.”

During outside-court commentary, Jeff Stone was quoted saying:

“It shall in no way compare to the eternal punishment that will be suffered by Raymond Oyler in hell,” he said.

A judge/official statement quoted Jeff Stone earlier included:

“The perpetrator believes that he has seen the fire of all fires. I disagree with his fantasy,” Stone said. “As a person of strong faith, I believe that this perpetrator will see a firestorm bigger than he's ever imagined when he meets his ultimate fate at the conclusion of his shameful life.”

A statement from Pat Boss included:

“I would say it is excellent work by the teams put together to investigate this tragedy, and we expect that justice will be done,” said Pat Boss, a U.S. Forest Service spokesman and longtime friend of Loutzenhiser.

Named individuals connected to the case

Rod Pacheco was identified as Riverside County District Attorney.

W. Charles Morgan was identified as the judge who sentenced Oyler to death.

Michael Hestrin was identified as the Riverside County Deputy District Attorney and as the prosecutor in court.

Mark McDonald was identified as Oyler’s attorney.

Thomas Eckhardt was identified as the defense attorney who spoke during closing arguments in the death penalty phase.

Jeff Stone was identified as chairman of the Riverside County Board of Supervisors.

Andrew Bennett was identified as a California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection battalion chief and first incident commander.

Charles DeHart/Charlie DeHart was identified as an investigator with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

Matthew Wayne Gilbert was identified as an investigator with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection who provided information in an affidavit described in the case.

Matthew Wayne Gilbert’s affidavit described evidence including matches and cigarettes and DNA testing.