Inmate Name: Deana Fairchild
Charge: Arson, three counts of murder
Sentence: Three consecutive life sentences
Prison: Homestead Correctional Institution, Florida

Deana Fairchild was born at Lackland Air Force base in Texas in 1955 where her father worked as a mechanic. When her father left the air force, he moved the family to Wisconsin and became a truck driver. But according to family members, Deana was a troubled child. One of Deana’s three sisters claims that at age 7, Deana set her mother’s housecoat on fire. Deana’s father stated that she torched her curtains. Deana denies any memory of these incidents. When Deana was ten years old, her parents divorced and she went to live with her mother. Two years later, Deana’s mother remarried but Deana claims she did not get along with her new stepfather. At age 13, desperate to get away from her new family, Deana ran away from home to live with relatives in Milwaukee. When that didn’t work out, she began living on the streets and hanging out with the wrong crowd. After a run-in with a police officer, she was sent to reform school where she became pregnant and gave up an infant daughter for adoption. During her twenties and thirties, she had several boyfriends and four more children out of wedlock. She gave up all of her children, except her son Matthew. Matthew, who has a very high IQ, remembers his mother moving around a lot and working low paying jobs. While working as a cashier at a truck stop in Florida, Deana met Joe Martin, Jr. and eventually moved in with Joe and his parents at his parents’ farm, bringing Matthew with her. But Joe’s mother and Deana did not get along and this created a lot of friction between Joe and Deana.

Police say that the couple argued so loudly that officers were often called to investigate. Police say that on July 21, 1996, Joe and Deana were drinking all day. They had gone with Matthew to buy hay for Joe’s farm animals. That evening, nine year old Matthew was watching TV in the barn behind the house where he slept. He says his mother stayed with Matthew in the barn since she and Joe had been arguing. Matthew started dozing off as he watched TV and suddenly he heard an explosion and ran towards the house. The house was on fire and Joe and his parents died in the fire. Investigators discovered the fire had been started by gasoline. They also discovered blisters on Deana which indicated they were the result of a fire accelerant. The police also interviewed Matthew who, according to the prosecution, had been coached by his mother to come up with a story but then he broke down and told the police how his mother started the fire. Deana claimed she was innocent but was charged with arson and three counts of murder. At her trial she was found guilty and was sentenced to serve three consecutive life sentences. She still maintains she is innocent.