Blaine Alexander

Truth was, the entire home felt violated.

Tara's collection of memories, photos of all those people she loved, were charred, almost lost in the ruin.

And when investigators saw melted fabric on the kitchen burners, they knew exactly how the killer started the fire.

I mean, that detail is just so chilling to me because blankets are just, they're comforting.

When you got to the stove and you realized what had happened, what the blanket had been used for.

Someone had to really think this through.

You know, it's almost like a switch flipped, you know, at that moment.

We weren't college students anymore.

Wayne Ford has been a reporter for the Athens Banner-Herald since 1982.

And those previous fires were within a stone's throw of Tara's home.

A few weeks earlier, two of those buildings were on fire.

Both of them?

Just after the murder, police also got specific tips about a man walking alone in the rain around the time of the killing.

One of the first things investigators wanted to know, of course, was how did the killer get inside?

The doors were locked when firefighters arrived, but Doug Whitehead noticed something.

So you're thinking maybe whoever did this came in and out through this window.

But the killing was so violent, so up close, it looked like a crime of passion, not a random act.

Could you get a sense in those early days maybe of what direction police were going by the questions they were asking you?

At the time, they were just asking about any male in her life.

Whether it be at the law school or at work or, you know, in her personal life.