Foglesong inquest emotionally charged

Graphic, emotionally charged testimony gripped the first day of the Coroner’s Inquest into the highly controversial 2007 death of Ivan “Bud” Foglesong.

“He kept saying he opened the door and it just exploded,” testified Anne Foglesong, the victim’s daughter.

Anne Foglesong told the 11-woman, four-man jury that when her father returned from making rounds on the family ranch, sometime around 5:30 p.m. on July 21, 2007, she did not recognize him.

Foglesong, 59, died of injuries he sustained hours after a duck cabin he was standing inside on the ranch suddenly caught fire.

Police and fire investigators concluded the cause of the fire was arson, with someone dousing the cabin floor of the front room with gasoline.

Foglesong’s injuries were consistent with a sudden “flash-fire,” which is a short, quick burst of flame, according to testimony heard today in Glenn County Superior Court.

“I tried not to look at him,” Foglesong’s son, Kurt, testified. “I didn’t think he was going to die.”

Both of Foglesong’s adult children testified their father appeared disoriented and may not have realized how badly he was injured. Both said their father’s flesh was “falling off,” his normally white hair had turned a reddish color and blood appeared “to be coming from everywhere.”

Kurt Foglesong was an important witness, according to the hearing Officer Matthew P. Guichard, because he drove his father to Glenn Medical Center in Willows on the day in question.

Foglesong’s son said he kept asking his father what happened, but he kept closing his eyes like he was falling asleep, but eventually reiterated the same story he had told his daughter – that he had opened the cabin door and “it blew up.”

“He said ‘I need pain medication,’ and that was the last thing he said to me,” Kurt Foglesong said.

Both siblings testified they did not smell any gasoline around their father.

“He just smelled burnt,” Anne Foglesong said.

The Foglesongs contend that sheriff’s detectives botched the investigation and sheriff’s officials have acknowledged mistakes were made.

Glenn County sheriff’s investigator Sharon O’Quin testified that when she re-opened the case last year, she found that “probably there were some things that could’ve been done.”

However, sheriff’s officials have also said that the mistakes that were made were not large enough to jeopardize the integrity of the investigation. The Foglesongs disagree.

The sheriff’s office concluded that Foglesong was responsible for the fire, saying his death was accidental, but the result of actions committed while engaged in the crime of arson.

Foglesong’s family has strenuously rejected that conclusion, saying they believe the cabin was booby-trapped, their family patriarch murdered.

The family’s theory is based, at least in part, on a fight between Foglesong and Roy Holzapfel in November of 2006.

The fight reportedly took place inside a shop on the shared family ranch on County Road 60 and Foglesong, a pilot, was permanently injured, according to police reports.

Foglesong filed charges against Holzapfel with the state Attorney General’s Office because Holzapfel is the son of Glenn County District Attorney Robert S. Holzapfel.

When Foglesong died, the charges against Holzapfel were dismissed.

That fight was likely an ancillary result of a decades-old land dispute within the family that has been simmering hotly since 1980.

Guichard called it “a toxic mix over estate issues” that lead to tremendous amounts of “bad blood” with the extended family.

The family contends that Foglesong had no motive to burn down the cabin, saying there was nothing for him to gain.

Foglesong’s daughter-in-law, Megan Foglesong, testified about his mental state that day.
She spent most of the day with him and said he appeared to be in good spirits.

She testified that he was sad his other son, Jed Foglesong, was leaving that same day for re-deployment to Iraq, but happy to meet his 10-month-old granddaughter and, otherwise, seemed happy.

In fact, Megan Foglesong testified, she and the new baby were supposed to go with Foglesong when he left for the cabin. She said they were walking out the door when the baby began to cry, and they agreed to meet over by the cabin after she fed the baby.

Today’s proceeding closed following the testimony of Willows fire Chief Wayne Peabody and Chief George Morris, the fire investigator from the state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

Morris’s lack of experience in the field has been a major sticking point with the Foglesongs, who have hired their own fire investigators.

Morris told jurors he had only been with the arson investigation program for about two months at the time of

Foglesong’s death, but also said he had investigated “nearly 100” fires prior to the incident as a regular firefighter. He said he has since investigated an additional 50 such fires and said today that he stands by the conclusion he reached in 2007.

“I found no indications of what might be called a booby-trap,” Morris testified.

The Foglesongs hired two experts, John DeHaan and Terry Taylor.

It is Taylor’s testimony that the Foglesongs hope will persuade jurors.

“That’s what I’m waiting for,” Jed Foglesong said following today’s proceedings. “Not the guy who had only been doing it for a few months.”

Taylor will testify when the hearing proceeds at 9 a.m. Tuesday in the Willows courthouse.

DeHaan will not be present during the inquest due to a prior scheduling conflict

The Foglesong family believes the Sheriff’s Office should have re-scheduled the hearing for a day when DeHaan could testify.

The Sheriff’s Office has said the inquest dates were chosen because they were the most workable for the majority of those involved in this case.