Fire investigator insists 2003 house fire that killed three children was arson

Nearly three decades after a Colorado Springs house fire killed three children, fire investigator Kirk Schmitt testified this week that his original arson conclusion still holds, calling it the product of a six-person team rather than one analyst's judgment. Deborah Nicholls and her husband Tim were convicted of murdering their children in 2007 and 2008 respectively and are serving life sentences, though she has always said the fire was accidental.

A 2023 discovery of a previously undisclosed 2007 report supporting the accident theory led a senior judge to hold a Brady hearing and, in August, vacate Deborah Nicholls' conviction and order a new trial. Two later experts, including a Colorado Bureau of Investigation analyst using modern standards, found evidence of contamination but no ignitable fire fuel, aligning with the defense's own outside expert rather than Schmitt's team.

A hearing to decide whether Nicholls should be released on bond pending retrial is continuing, with a third day scheduled for September 30. Prosecutors are appealing the order that vacated her conviction, and the case remains sealed to the public.

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