Sounak Sengupta
Investigation Discovery’s ‘Who the (Bleep) Did I Marry? Home Fire Burning’ chronicles how authorities caught the serial arsonist Adam Carriere in early 2010. He was allegedly responsible for ten counts of arson between April 2007 to January 2010 in multiple parts of Louisiana. However, the police were shocked to learn the motive behind his crimes.
Who is Adam Carriere?
Beth Miller grew up in a conservative Christian home in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She reminisced, “I was raised in the church and loved learning about the Bible. But my family was overly strict. I was not allowed to attend dances or parties and never had a boyfriend.” Hence, the 18-year-old was curious when her friends told her about a phone dating service in the 2006 winter. She recalled she had called the service more out of curiosity than to find love or a potential partner.
Beth stated how the phone service told the customers about different profiles on call till they came across someone interesting. Soon, she connected with 21-year-old Adam Paul Carriere after finding him intriguing. Beth said, “We shared a passion for music, and that was something that drew me to him. So we exchanged our phone numbers.” Before long, the two began regularly talking over the phone, and she was thrilled to discover she had much in common with him.
Beth recalled, “Adam told me he hailed from a deeply religious family too, and I found out both our families shared similar beliefs, faith, and understandings.” After continuing their regular phone conversation for weeks, they were itching to meet in real life and set a date for January 15, 2007. Beth stated she was scared and apprehensive about the meeting, yet all her nervousness disappeared when she saw Adam at her door. Even her mother, Vicki Miller, was impressed when she first met him.
The couple’s meetings soon became relatively regular, and the “rebellious” teen Beth moved into his apartment when her conservative family asked her to take it slow. She stated she “loved him” and “did not care about what others thought.” Besides, Beth recalled how she did not have a driver’s license then, but Adam worked a steady flow of short-term jobs to make ends meet. However, she expressed how he got excited and passionate while sharing his aspirations of becoming a firefighter.
Upon being pressured by their Christian families, the two married on May 12, 2007, but soon faced difficulties as Adam failed to hold jobs and pay their bills. He began lying to her about his employment status, and Beth even caught him once red-handed in mid-2008. Still, they tried to make their marriage work, with Beth taking a waitress job at a local restaurant. Yet, she recalled how Adam continued to have an almost “obsession” with firefighting, although oddly, he never attempted to pursue a career in it.
Adam Carriere is Out of Jail Today
Beth claimed that Adam often blew off steam by burning discarded and old items in their backyard and that he had bought an old police scanner to check up on fire incidents reported in the city. She even alleged he would drop everything and follow fire engines whenever he came across them on the road. According to the show, as Beth worked hard to keep their marriage alive, she was finally heartbroken when Adam allegedly assaulted her in September 2009 following a bitter argument.
Beth claimed on the episode that Adam tried to strangle her and cut the phone line when she managed to get free and dial 911. Despite him later apologizing profusely for his actions, she refused to stay with him and filed for divorce. However, Beth decided not to press charges, and the two went their separate ways. She would not hear about Adam until January 2010, when one of her friends called her after seeing him in the local news coverage. Beth was shocked to find her former husband had been accused of multiple arson charges.
According to the State Fire Marshal’s Office, Adam was a probational firefighter for only three days with the West Feliciana Parish Fire District No. 1 in January 2010 when two fires broke out in the city. The investigators found them arson, with him being treated as a potential suspect after multiple witnesses saw him pacing in his fire engine within minutes before the fires were reported. They questioned Adam when his footprints and tire tracks were found near the two incidents.
Under intense interrogation, Adam confessed to the two incidents, claiming he wanted to bring attention to the heroic work of the volunteer firefighters. Regardless, Sergeant David Hidalgo of the West Feliciana Sheriff’s Department countered his claims, “It did not make a lot of sense since Adam’s action not only damaged others’ properties but also put the lives of firefighters at risk.” While being interrogated, Adam also talked about eight other potential fire incidents he might have been responsible for between April 2007 to January 2010.
The authorities charged Adam with ten counts of arson in January 2010. According to reports, nobody had been injured, though he caused an estimated loss of $395,000 in damages. Sergeant David Hidalgo stated that all of Adam’s activities were geared toward escalation and that he would have liked to cause more harm in the future. Adam accepted a plea deal in April 2011, where he pled guilty to the two West Feliciana arson incidents in January 2010 and was sentenced to 11 years. Presently, he is presumed to have been released since his name is not found on Louisiana’s active prisoners’ roster.
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