Ed Nordskog
Retired - Los Angeles Sheriff’s Office
Contact: ednordskog@gmail.com         Arsonprofiler.com

Ed is a recently retired Arson/Bomb Detective from the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Office. He has 34 years experience as a Detective with 21 years and 2,100 cases as an arson/bomb investigator.  He specialized in major cases, serial arsonists, and fire death scenes.  He is an arson profiler and expert who has testified over 108 times on arson, serial arson, and fire death cases, including multiple arson murders and death penalty cases.  He has written six books on arson, arsonists, serial arsonists, arson profiling, wildland arson, and fire death investigations.  In retirement, Ed is working as an author, instructor and consultant to prosecutors, federal, and local agencies on major arson cases, cold cases, and any fire fatalities.

He is a longtime instructor for arson, serial arson, arson profiling, and fire death investigation, throughout the US, Canada, and multiple other countries.He has over 115 medals, awards, and commendations for investigations over his career, including IAAI’s Investigator of the Year, and IAAI’s Accomplishment of the Year for major arson investigations.  In 2005 he was named Law Enforcement Officer of the Year. 

Class Topic: Defending your Wildland Origin and Cause Investigation in Court

Class Synopsis:  Ed will be presenting a detailed analysis of a recently adjudicated major wildland arson investigation involving multiple agencies and investigators.  He will focus on the original Origin and Cause Investigation, and the efforts to build a case around a suspect.

This case review will follow the investigation from fire scene, to arrest, the follow-up investigation, to Preliminary Hearing, and finally to a jury trial.  Numerous experts weighed in on this major case over a several year period.

Defense tactics and strategies will be examined so the student can learn from real-world challenges to the investigation.

Luke Coyne
Maricopa County District Attorney’s Office, AZ
Contact: lukecoyne@gmail.com (480) 286-8650

Luke Coyne is veteran prosecutors assigned to the Maricopa (AZ) County District Attorney’s Office, focusing on arson related cases. Both are members of the International Association of Arson Investigators, and have a long history of arson and other major crimes prosecution. They also present arson training to other prosecutors at the national level.

Amy Diederich
Assistant Attorney General
Arizona Attorney General’s Office
Contact: Amy.Diederich@azag.gov

Amy Diederich is a career prosecutor who is passionate about training.  Originally from Kansas, Amy graduated from Creighton University School of Law in 2008. After law school, Amy began her career as a prosecutor with the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office in Phoenix, Arizona. While at Maricopa County, Amy prosecuted a variety of crimes including violent crime, sexual assault, and crimes against children. She also worked as a mentor for new prosecutors. In 2015, Amy moved to the Pinal County attorney’s office where she prosecuted gang crimes, homicide, and arson.   Amy is currently a prosecutor for the Arizona Attorney General’s Office. Amy routinely conducts training for law enforcement officers and prosecutors across the state of Arizona and throughout the country. Amy is an adjunct faculty member at ASU Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law teaching trial advocacy. Amy has received awards from Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) and the Arizona Chapter of the International Association of Arson Investigators (IAAI) for her work as a prosecutor.

Case Study: Justin Caruso Serial Arson/Fatality Prosecution

Class 1: Serial Arson Prosecution

Both speakers will present a detailed analysis of a major serial arson investigation that spanned three states and several years. The arsonist eventually killed an elderly victim with one of his fires. Complicating the case dramatically was the serial arsonist had documented special needs. Further hindering the investigation and prosecution was the fact many of the arsonist’s fires were originally classified as “accidental” events by qualified and certified fire investigators, including an engineer.

Prosecutors Chung and Coyne formed a task force of experts from multiple states to successfully address the many issues with this case, fill in gaps, and obtain a conviction of the suspect. The case was so extraordinary in its uniqueness and scope that the International Association of Arson Investigators named it the “Accomplishment of the Year-2022”

Class 2: Presenting and Defending your case in Court

Again both speakers will present a class specifically geared toward the wildland fire investigator as they are getting ready to go to court. Both prosecutors will speak about subjects like maintaining a CV, meeting with the prosecutor, preparing for Defense tactics, and finally presenting and defending your investigation in court.

Justin Buckingham
Battalion Chief/Investigator
Contact:  jbuckingham@cityofukiah.com

Justin is a Battalion Chief/Investigator with the Ukiah Valley Fire Authority in Northern California.  He has been in the fire service for 25 years and is certified as an OSFM Fire Investigator and qualified as an INVF. Justin has investigated over 1000 fires, and has testified as an expert 30 times, including a murder trial and numerous serial arson cases.

Class Topic: Case Study of a Female Serial Arsonist

Justin Buckingham will present an in depth look at a female serial arsonist he tracked and later pursued over thirteen years through at least four different jurisdictions.  His case study will highlight the difficulty of having a serial arsonist who “doesn’t fit the profile”, lights dozens of small fires, and doesn’t pique the interest of the local prosecutor.  

Patrick Blake
Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food, and Forestry
Contact: Patrick.Blake@ag.ok.gov 405-522-6102

Patrick has been a full-time Law Enforcement Officer for 29 years, the last 20 of those years working in the Investigative Services Unit of the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture Food and Forestry.  He is tasked with investigating wildland fire arson, timber, livestock, and heavy equipment theft across Oklahoma. 

In those 20 years Patrick has been directly involved with or the case agent on ten serial arson cases that were prosecuted and the arsonist was convicted for those crimes of arson.  Unfortunately, he has also worked on just as many others which have not been prosecuted and in many cases the arsonist has yet to be identified. 

Class Topic: Serial Arson and the Fire Service

An overview of serial arson cases involving Volunteer & Forestry Firefighters in Oklahoma and how those cases were solved.

Marilyn Tucker
Senior Wildfire Prevention Specialist

Marilyn is the Senior Wildfire Prevention Specialist leading the Alberta Forestry Enforcement Program for the Alberta Ministry of Forestry and Parks (Alberta, Canada). She has worked on a variety of wildfire investigations, including major serial arson files with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Forestry Crimes Unit. Marilyn has a degree in Forensic Science and a post-graduate certificate in Conservation and Environmental Law Enforcement. She is heavily involved in the coordination and presentation of the FI-210 and FI-310 courses and is an IAAI Certified Evidence Collection Technician (IAAI-ECT).

Class Topic: Utilizing Open Source Data During a Wildfire Investigation

Marilyn Tucker will present two cases where she accessed and exploited open source data, such as social media, to gather additional information and determine the wildfire’s origin, cause and in some cases the responsible party.

Matt Lee
Chief Deputy District Attorney
Washoe County District Attorney's Office
Contact: mlee@da.washoecounty.gov (775) 325-6709

Chief DDA Lee will be presenting a recent double arson case from the Truckee Meadows area.  A subject, after a dispute with a female, set two separate wildland fires.  The first was an attempt to destroy her family's property.  Both fires eventually damaged 3 homes and caused in excess of $1 million in losses.

The case had unique challenges due to issues with the Origin and Cause investigation.  Eventually a third-party expert witness was called upon to assist in the successful prosecution.