Background: Drew is the Dardenne Prairie women who is accused of creating a fake MySpace website to harass 13-year old Megan Meier, who committed suicide. Drew was charged in June in Los Angeles, where MySpace is headquartered, with illegally accessing MySpace computers, conspiracy and accessing a protected computer without authorization. Prosecutors based the charges on a law that was designed to catch hackers. On Wednesday, July 23rd, defense attorney Dean Steward filed motions to have the indictment dismissed and laid out a detailed argument to explain why.

In court documents, Steward argues that the law is too vague to know when it's actually been broken. He claims that in the government's zeal to charge Drew with something, they've criminalized the violation of the terms of service for the use of the MySpace website or any website. He wrote, 'If violating user agreements is a crime, millions of Americans are probably committing crimes on a daily basis and don't know it. In the wake of Megan Meier's death, several laws have been passed to punish those who bully others online. It will be interesting to read the federal prosecutor's response, which is expected to be filed in three weeks.

[You can read all of the court documents filed by Lori Drew's defense attorney, Dean Steward, by clicking on document 1, document 2 or document 3.]

The call came in on the tipline at 314-444-3344. The voice on the recording said she sent a lot of money to a company called The Coffee Man, which claimed it manufactured and sold Continental Gourmet Coffee. But the caller never received what she had been promised and now she can't reach anybody at the company. My first reaction was, "Uh-oh, somebody's been scammed." But I had no idea how far and wide this scam reached, until I talked with Debbie Sullivan and then started checking out her story.

Debbie Sullivan and Virginia Welch, who live in the St. Louis area, invested more than $25,000 each, to be distributors of Continental Gourmet Coffee. An ad in USA Today caught their attention and after going to the company's website, www.continentaljava.com, thought it sounded like a good way to make extra money. The Coffee Man promised to set up free-standing displays, stocked with Continental Gourmet Coffee, in area stores. Distributors like Sullivan and Welch were to keep their assigned displays stocked and then share in the sales. After sending their money, The Coffee Man disappeared. No displays, no coffee, no refunds. Calls have poured into the Better Business Bureau offices in Colorado, since the company claimed it was headquartered there, from people with similar stories from New York to California. Victims have also complained to several federal agencies and posted their stories online. The U.S. Postal Inspection Service is taking the lead in the investigation. At this point, the company's phones have been disconnected and the their website has been taken down, leaving little hope of recovering the hundreds of thousands (possibly millions) of dollars from investors.

The Federal Trade Commission and Postal Inspection Service are eager to give potential investors tips that could help them spot scams like this. They say, the fact that The Coffee Man company guaranteed investors a monthly income should have been a red flag. They recommend that you talk face-to-face with other investors and point out you're entitled to detailed financial information on the company before you ever give them a dime. The top tip: if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

"Make sure you don't get the salmonella tomatoes," I heard a woman laugh to her husband during a recent trip to the grocery store.

The danger of a salmonella infection is serious stuff, especially for a person whose immune system isn't strong enough to fight off the disease. So we changed our shopping habits and shunned the varieties of tomatoes that were said to be linked to an increasing number of outbreaks.

Those warnings -- and the way we reacted to them -- crushed the $1 billion a year tomato industry in the peak of the summer growing season. In St. Louis, tomato purveyor Front Row Produce estimates losing hundreds of thousands of dollars.

What's even more painful for the folks at Front Row is knowing that loss was completely unnecessary.

"Somebody has cried fire in a very small building and created panic througout the United States," said Front Row Produce manager Cindy Pupillo during an interview last week.

Pupillo was outraged that local health officials linked a salmonella outbreak at the Los Tres Amigos restaurant to tomatoes -- even though there was no hard evidence of a connection.

According to a June 18 press release from the Madison County health department, the DNA fingerprint of the local outbreak matched the fingerprint of the national outbreak. Because the FDA was linking the national outbreak to tomatoes, Madison County did the same.

There was just one problem with that chain of logic... Illinois' Department of Public Health had no evidence of a connection between the Los Tres Amigos sickness and tomatoes.

On June 27, the acting chief of the state's Communicable Disease Control Section wrote Pupillo an e-mail which read, in part:

"...the source of the outbreak has not been identified... Illinois has also not determined that tomatoes are the cause of the illnesses reported from our State."

Even knowing that, Madison County Public Health Adminstrator Toni Corona says she wouldn't have handled the situation any different.

"We don't just pull things out of the air and decide that it's this," she said. "We have to have more than just a hunch."

The common DNA signature was reason enough, she said, to issue the press release that unleashed the tomato scare on St. Louis. When lives are at risk, Corona says she will always err on the side of caution -- even if that means scaring people away from a produce item in error.

And smoke continues to pour from Cindy Pupillo's ears.

If the health department can't pin down the cause of an outbreak with absolute certainty, she says it shouldn't risk ruining someone's business with their best guess.

"It's not good enough," she said. "It might have been the cilantro, it might have been another product. you can't just single out one product and say because there's stuff going on in texas with the tomato, it's all over the nation."

The couple divorced in 2006. Here are court documents from their divorce procedings that show his collection of more than 20 guns. But the divorce didn't end their turbulent relationship. On July 8, 2008, they both went to the St. Louis County courthouse and filed a petition for an order of protection against the other, citing reasons why they felt threatened by the other. You can read the documents here.

In Barbara Carson's petition she claimed, "My cell phone rang, while I was in a conversation, S.A. Carson, Jr. ask me question about who was on my phone," She went on to say "I would not tell him. He pulled a black hand gun on me and said. 'You going to tell me who is on that (expletive) phone.'"

S.A. Carson claimed that Barbara had "called police and lied about me having a gun." He also wrote in his petition that his ex-wife, "comes by my job and in my bedroom, talking loud and talking about her brothers are going to kill me." He also wrote, "She goes into rages and attacks not only me but her sitster, mother and my sons and daughter-in-law."

Tragedies like this may make it seem that orders of protection just don't work. But veteran divorce attorney Margo Green told me that hundreds of orders of protection are granted every year and serve as an effective tool for protecting people who feel threatened. You just never hear about the many, many times that this legal tool works.

She recommends filing an order of protection to anyone who is in a relationship and feels endangered by the threats or actions of another person. Fees are small, you don't need an attorney to file the paperwork, and courthouse staffers can usually walk you through the process. Some courts will often waive the fee for those who prove a financial hardship.

The 16th Judicial Circuit Court in Jackson County has a wealth of information about orders of protection, as does the Family Court of St. Louis County.

The meteoroic rise of Fig was big news in the business world... so its overnight collapse in December, 2007 also made headlines.

And so news that three former Fig officers formed a new company offering cosmetic medical services is newsworthy. That the new company was formed within three weeks of Fig's shutdown -- and opened for business about two months later -- made it even more relevant.

But the question has been raised... were these three people really "officers" at Fig?

The new company is BENU Medical. Articles of organization filed with the Missouri Secretary of State list three people as the company's owners/organizers. John Huhn is one of those owners and he admits he was a vice president at Fig. Former high-level insiders at Fig say the other two organizers were also vice presidents.

But Huhn is the one who returned our calls to answer questions about BENU Medical, so we'll deal with this question as it relates to him. Although he declined to do an on-camera interview he did speak with us on the phone and sent a statement by email. You can read it here, but his main argument is this:

"I was middle management at fig. Though I was a VP, I was the 3rd layer down in a 5-layer organization and I was not privy to the senior management decision-making, nor was I a part of the "executive team."

As you can see, Huhn says while he was a vice president, he did not wield any influence at Fig. That statement is contradicted by former insiders and creditors, but since Huhn is the only person going on the record and agreeing to atribution, we'll give him some latitude.

So that got us wondering... does it mean anything to be a vice president?

Professor Jim Fisher at the St. Louis University School of Business says it's true the title of vice president has been "devalued" somewhat and often doesn't carry the weight it once did. He says that's especially true as a company becomes larger. At the time Fig closed, it had about 500 employees.

But there is weight in numbers. BENU Medical has been organized by not one, but three former Fig vice presidents. And as you can see, Huhn admits he is capitalizing on what he learned during his time at Fig in operating BENU Medical. It was this aspect of the story which prompted creditors we spoke with to express some "discomfort" with the former vice presidents opening a company similar to Fig while they still await some settlement from Fig bankruptcy procedings.

That bankruptcy, by the way, was converted in May from a Chapter 11, to a chapter 7, likely not good news for creditors.

For the record... we want to emphasize that Rob Semaan, Fig's flashy co-founder, is not invovled in any way with BENU Medical. Huhn said during his time at Fig he had "disagreements" with the way Semaan was running the company.

Perhaps that bodes well for the future of BENU Medical.

It wasn't until January of 2008, during the course of George Mitchell's investigation into steroid use in baseball, that MLB reluctantly released to Congress the number of players who received a T.U.E. to take Ritalin and/or Adderall. The number of players approved to take A.D.D. medicines jumped dramatically from 2006 to 2007, from 28 to 103. Such a big jump immediately stood out to members of Congress and reporters covering the story and there were a handful of stories about the issue in The New York Times, on ESPN.com and in Newsweek. And immediately a few sports columnists began to speculate that some players permitted to use Ritalin did not have A.D.D. and had found a way to get around the amphetamine ban. But the issue went unnoticed by many sports fans.

Ritalin and Adderall can help children with A.D.D. stay calm and focus better. But for anyone without A.D.D. or A.D.H.D., it's like taking speed and gives them quicker reflexes and longer-lasting energy. They're clearly performance enhancing drugs. Until now, news stories and sports columnists had only speculated that some players were faking it to take the drugs, but News4 Investigates spoke with a St. Louis doctor who says he knows some players are faking it. Dr. David Ohlms is the medical director of the chemical dependency unit at Centre Point Hospital, an addictionologist and a doctor with many years of treating professional athletes for substance abuse. He told News4 Investigates that he has seen two baseball players, a former Cardinals player and another who dr. Ohlms says never played for the Cardinals, who sought help after abusing A.D.D. medicines to enhance their on-field performance. In fact, one of them told Dr. Ohlms how he prepared himself before seeing his own doctor, to be able to convince the physician that he had A.D.H.D. and to get a prescription for Ritalin.

When we began working on this story, we contacted MLB to ask them for the numbers that had been given to Congress so we could be sure we had the accurate number of players to receive a T.U.E. They refuse and told us to get the numbers from Congress. Clearly it's a subject that's very sensitive to Major League Baseball, which refused to make someone available for us to interview. All we got from MLB was this statement:
"Since 2006, the joint drug agreement between MLB owners and players has required all therapeutic use exemptions to be approved by the Independent Program Administrator ("IPA"). The IPA, a licensed physician, is directed to approve such exemptions only if based upon a valid, medically appropriate prescription from a duly licensed physician. The IPA carefully scrutinizes all applications for exemptions to ensure compliance with our agreement."
Based on the patients that Dr. Ohlms has seen, MLB's system is not foolproof and there are still players finding a way to cheat, even with the ban on steroids and amphetamines.

Powell, a former city councilman, ran the East St. Louis political machine. He could make a phone call to the right person and get someone a job, sometimes it was the kind of job that could jumpstart a career. He was known for helping poor people pay their electric bills.

He was also a crook.

Powell was convicted in two seperate criminal investigations during the last few years; a vote fraud scheme and illegally handling asbestos during work on an East St. Louis building. He was found guilty during the vote fraud trial. He pleaded guilty to the asbestos related charge.

Charlie Powell served about 2 years in county jail and several prisons. The former football star and coach called his time behind bars "scary."

I tried to interview Powell several times after he was indicted, but he always politely refused to talk about the allegations. He also declined to be interviewed in prison.

So, why talk now?

A few weeks ago, I learned Charlie Powell was going to be hired as the Assistant Principal at an East St. Louis charter school. The school was the focus of many of our stories that exposed problems in the city's school district. Vickie Forby, the Executive Director of Emerson Park Development, the agency running the school, asked him if he'd do the interview, and he agreed.

I told them I would ask any question I considered fair and reasonable. I made no promises, only that I would try to provide context and perspective.

In the interview with Forby that meant allowing her to explain why she hired Powell as an Assistant Principal, even though he was a convicted felon living in a halfway house. We also provided additional context to show Powell's qualifications and the role he could play in helping the school.

In the excerpts we aired from my interview with Powell, he talked about how he could help the students, but he also described how the party leaders handed out cash on election day, and admitted that he assumed it would be used to buy votes.

The interview with Charlie Powell is significant because it provides rare insight into a deeply private man who preferred conducting business in backrooms and on quiet streets. It was his first time to sit in front of a television camera with bright lights surrounding him.

In many ways, he behaved like a reluctant witness, a guy who knew what he should say and what he wanted to say, even though it wasn't always the same thing. Still, I always gain a certain amount of respect for people who sit down for an interview knowing they'll be asked questions they don't want to answer.

The once powerful political Godfather of East St. Louis has learned a great deal about crime and justice, and himself during the last few years. He's clearly angry, perhaps a little bitter, but he seems determined to put it behind him. He'll recover from his self-inflicted wounds in an office at the charter school, a place that desperately needs positive role models, perhaps even a hero or two.

East St. Louis is infamous for being a hotbed of corruption, but it's also a community that believes in redemption.

Forgiveness is a powerful thing. It allows people to start over, even if they have betrayed our trust.

It's a gift we must earn.

What will Charlie Powell do with this gift?

According to St. Louis police records from July, 2005, three men chased Brothers through the Wells-Goodfellow neighborhood in North St. Louis. Every time they caught up with him, Brothers got a beating.

After evading his attackers for a short while, Brothers was cornered on the 6100 block of Martin Luther King Drive in Wellston. This is where police say the beating intensified. One of the three men began pounding away at Brothers head with a tree limb.

Alice Payne says she still remembers seeing her beaten brother in a bed at Barnes-Jewish Hospital that night. She says the beating was so bad, his face was unrecognizable.

"By us knowing it was him, we knew it was him," she said in an interview in her North Side home. "But it was like... it really didn't look like him."

The next evening, Brothers died.

But according to crime records maintained by the Missouri Highway Patrol, this never happened.

According to crime statistics complied by the Missouri Highway Patrol, no one was murdered in Wellston in 2005. Or 2006. Or 2007.

As we discovered, those statistics are dead wrong -- and Wellston Police are to blame.

State law requires local police departments to file detailed crime reports with the Highway Patrol every month. This allows police managers to accurately track crime and helps lawmakers allocate money to police forces that need it most.

Wellston Police have failed to submit those reports since at least 2005. As a result, Brothers' murder -- and at least six more from those three years -- were never counted.

According to Wellston's mayor, this failure to comply with state law is the result of a pile of problems.

Mayor Frank McNeil said a police chief was terminated in 2006 for failing to file reports with the Highway Patrol. In 2007, a new chief was appointed and ordered to fix Wellston's crime reporting problem. Yet the backlog of unreported crimes continued to snowball. Later that year, a civilian employee in charge of crime reporting was terminated for failing to do her job.

Not until March, 2008 did Wellston begin to address its crime reporting problems. According to Mayor McNeil, an assistant chief is now managing the city's crime reporting program. He expects the department to be in full compliance with the law by the end of July.

In the meantime, Wellston's failure to file crime statistics is holding back police efforts to crack down on crime in the north county community. Until the city is in compliance, Wellston is ineligible for state and federal funds that could be used to hire more officers or purchase better equipment.

Now, the yucky part of the lab results. There were high levels of types of bacteria that like to feast on blood. That means anyone wading through the water who has a cut or a scrape is at risk of walking out of that water with bacteria that can make them really sick, crawling all over that open wound. That's a real risk for anyone who evacuated through the water, worked on sandbag walls or just plays around in the floodwater. And the level of fecal coliforms, the bacteria found in fecal matter, was sky high. That's not a big surprise considering that the sewage treatment plants in Cedar Rapids and a couple of other Iowa towns were flooded at one point and may still be operating at less than 100% of their ability to treat the raw sewage. Plus, sewage from flooded septic tanks and animal droppings have been swept down the river. If floodwater gets into the water table, it could contaminate the wells that people use for their drinking water. And there's a potential that the next crop of vegetables grown on the flooded fields could be contaminated.

St. Louis gets its drinking water from the Mississippi River. So, News4 Investigates contacted Curtis Skouby, acting director of public utilities for the City of St. Louis about the level of contamination in the water, detected by our lab tests. He explained that the treatment process is designed to remove microbes, even at this higher level caused by the flooding. Skouby says St. Louis water, the #1 tasting municipal water in the country, is as safe as it's always been. But anyone living in or near the flooded areas, who use well water, need to have their well tested.

St. Louis Singles is owned by the Dallas-based company called Ultimate Introductions and Jason Breakey is listed as the company president. News4 Investigates learned that Breakey ran the matchmaking service, Ultimate Singles, which was sued for advertising itself as a Christian dating service, when it wasn't a Christian organization. As a part of the settlement of that lawsuit, Breakey agreed that his company would go out of business. We've also learned that the website stlouissingles.com is registered to Visesh Infotecnics Ltd. of Gujarat, India, according to Better-Whois.com.

The BBB advises singles to avoid dating services that require you to sign up and pay a fee before you can learn more about the company. And that any legitimate company will give you the time to go home and think about the service, before signing a contract.

When you think of scrap metal thefts the first thought is of copper plumbing and gutters ripped from homes. But In recent weeks, News 4 has reported on thefts of air conditioners from a daycare and a church, and of catalytic converters cut from underneath cars. Our report featured the case of a man who was charged with unbolting heavy steel hooks from more than 500 city trash dumpsters.

Those kinds of thefts continue in spite of a new City of St. Louis law designed to make thieves think twice before selling stolen metal to dealers located in the city limits. The law went into effect last April and requires scrap dealers who pay in cash to keep meticulous records. When someone goes to a scrap yard to cash in a small amount of metal, the dealer is requited to photograph the seller, photocopy his drivers license, and record his license plate number.

Sgt. McLaughlin praised the tougher law in a News 4 Investigates report in February, 2007.

But is it doing any good?

Our check of police and court records shows in the 14 months since the law took effect, only three cases have been brought against scrap dealers. One was dismissed, one resulted in a guilty plea and a fine of only $48.50, while the most serious case is still being prosecuted.

Sgt. McLaughlin says the small number of cases don't tell the whole story.

Closing the Gap?

"We're starting to close the gap, the loopholes," he says, "where these guys can go sell these items."

"You have to start from somewhere and this ordinance will give us a chance to see how it works and if it needs to be adjusted or needs to be strengthened then we'll go forward with that."

Sgt. McLaughlin believes the new law is making an impression on scrap metal thieves as well as the dealers.

"Even the people selling these items are now aware... 'hey, you gotta have proper I.D., they're going to look at the car you're driving.' So I think that effect has been positive for us to try to curb part of these thefts."

"I think it gives us another tool to investigate these metal thefts."

And that, says Sgt. McLaughlin, is one of the most important elements of the new law. The skyrocketing value of scrap metals, due largely to growing demand in China and India, makes scrap irresistable to thieves. Sgt. McLaughlin says the stricter identification requirements in the new law give police additional clues to help track down thieves.

Call it baby steps if you want. But after hearing Sgt. McLaughlin speak, one might recall the old saying that each journey starts with a single step.

He thinks police and scrap dealers -- working together -- are making a difference.

"It's been a learning experience for both the police department and the dealers" says McLaughlin.

Missouri and Illinois Follow Suit

Sgt. McLaughlin is especially pleased that after St. Louis City passed its tougher law on the purchase of scrap metals, the states of Missouri and Illinois passed similar versions. With stronger laws all over the metro area, metal thieves should find fewer places to sell their stolen goods.

He admits to feeling a certain sense of pride in helping to develop the city ordinance, while passing kudos on to St. Louis alderwoman Lyda Krewson, who was the lead sponsor of the bill.

The bowl also has a natural drain, a sinkhole that's supposed to funnel excess water out of the neighborhood through caves below the street. But the drainage apparently can't get the job done. So, it backs up and flooding occurs.

Sometimes, the water is deep enough to block access to several homes. The flooding has also created other problems, including backing up the sewage system and forcing raw sewage into basements.

Everyone agrees that it's a mess.

The question is: Who is responsible and how can it be fixed?

The problem shouldn't have surprised the builder or the city of St. Charles.

Three decades ago, a geologist for the Missouri Department of Natural Resources warned against developing the area because it was "inevitable that the ponding and flooding problems will increase." He conducted the study at the request of St. Charles County.

Twenty three years after that study, the area was within the city limits of St. Charles, which approved development for the same area. Mayor Patty York says she didn't know about the study until we told her during our on-camera interview.

Almost immediately after building the first homes, residents complained about flooding.

In 2000, the city sent the first in a series of letters to builder Easton Wade. The letters became increasingly confrontational.

In 2003, the city began filing charges against Wade for violating city ordinances. Court records show Wade paid $950 in fines.

The city's effort to fix the problem has been held back by turnover on the city council. Mayor York says the turnover lead to different plans on how to deal with the Pearl Ridge drainage and despite spending about $300,000 the city has not been able to eliminate flooding there.

The residents sued Wade and settled for court costs and some money to pay for damages to their homes.

The city and Wade are still involved in a lawsuit. Wade declined to talk to us about the flooding, the drainage or the lawsuit.

Mayor York and Laurie Feldman, the Councilwoman for that part of St. Charles, insist the city will do what it can to prevent sewage backup problems. The city may raise the lift station so that flood water can't get in it, which would probably prevent much of the basement flooding farther away from the sinkhole.

However, it appears city officials are against spending a load of money to blast in the sinkhole in an effort to create better drainage. The city blames Wade, who faults the city for approving his plan, which means the legal stalement continues and so does the problem.

Three years ago, the Missouri DNR told the city it needed to fix the problem. Last week, DNR sent the city another letter demanding that St. Charles come up with a plan to fix the drainage problem within 30 days.

So, are the folks on Pearl Ridge finally going to get the problem solved?

Mayor York admits "the biggest problem is we can't guarantee we can fix it."

Place your bets.

Envision admits that the two hospitals have gotten behind on their bills. But companies which sell supplies or provide services to the hospitals will tell you that's an understatement. The hospitals' electric bills went unpaid for so long that the total past due amount owed to Ameren UE topped $800,000. It got so bad that Ameren notified Forest Park Hospital and the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services that unless the bill was paid, it would turn off the electricity. A drastic measure to get the company to pay its bill. The hospitals are now making payments. The past due amount on Forest Park's water bill topped $57,000. In March, the hospital agreed to a payment plan, but after missing the first payment, wouldn't take call nor return calls to representatives from MSD. The hospitals are currently adhering to a subsequently arranged payment plan. Because the hospitals weren't making payments or were far behind on payments, some companies refuse to do business with them and others will only deliver medical supplies needed for scheduled operations and daily medical care, if those supplies are shipped, cash on delivery. Hospital officials say they've adopted a "just-in-time" policy for ordering supplies to keep costs down. Envision admits that its total debt for both hospitals, owed to vendors is $24 million. Lawsuits from companies that have gone unpaid have piled up and those companies that have agreed to a settlement usually got 50-60% of the full amount owed. The situation begs the question, Is this anyway to run a company? Well, those who have dealt with Envision, in another city, say that all of this is by design. In fact, they describe it as the company's business model.

Envision's rocky tenure as owner of Greater Southeast Community Hospital in Washington D.C. was well documented. The company was forced by the D.C. city council to sell the hospital to a hand-picked new owner. Envision was criticized for draining Greater Southeast Community Hospital of its resources and leaving it to degenerate slowly to the brink of shutdown. The company's owners were accused of taking home multi-million dollar salaries while employees and vendors were not paid and equipment was badly in need of repair or replacement. Envision says the criticisms are off the mark and were politically motivated. But some look at the current operations of Forest Park and St. Alexius and see a pattern.

The fear is that Envision's way of running a hospital is causing conditions to degenerate at Forest Park Hospital and St. Alexius Hospital, reducing the quality of care and putting patients at risk. In a statement released by the company regarding Forest Park Hospital, it says that the hospital continues to meet all Joint Commission and Department of Health standards. But here are two clues that there are troubling changes happening at Forest Park Hospital. After 20 years, cardiologist Dr. Wendall Williams recently left, saying he no longer thought it would be safe to have his patients treated there. And malpractice attorney Keith Short says he's seen a sharp increase in the last couple of years, from people approaching his firm wanting to file a malpractice lawsuit against Forest Park Hospital. He says referrals from other law firms for these kinds of cases, which involve Forest Park Hospital, far outnumber referrals involving other hospitals.

Envision executives say they're working to secure new financing that will turn things around at Forest Park Hospital and St. Alexius Hospital. But that financing comes with stipulations that make sure the money doesn't end up somewhere else in the company besides the St. Louis hospital. Envision says it rescued the two hospitals from almost certain closure and that better days are ahead. Hospital employees, patients and the community are hoping that's true. But the company's actions to date, leave many with serious doubts.

On March 21, 2005, his stepdaughter died in a house fire near North Grand Ave. and Interstate 70.

More than three years later, Slay has no idea why she died. Was it murder? Was it an accident? He still doesn't know... and the people responsible for making that determination appear to be nowhere near coming up with any answers.

As we discovered, it's not for lack of evidence... it's because two teams of fire investigators see the evidence in two different ways.

Monique Penermon was found cowering under a bed on the second floor of a building in the 2000 block of East Gano Ave. Everyone else made it out alive.

That house -- and an abandoned building one house away -- both began buring around 11 that March morning. The St. Louis Fire Department responded with two alarms and dozens of firefighters. Despite their best efforts, both buildings were a total loss.

In the wreckage of those two burned-out buildings, fire department investigators managed to piece together a cause. In the house where Penermon died, they said the fire was intentionally set on a rear porch. In the abandoned house a building over, they found evidence of an "ignitable liquid" along a kitchen wall. The burn patterns, investigators wrote in a report, "were not consistent with damage expected from natural fire progression."

The Fire Department's conclusion... both fires were set intentionally. Monique Penermon died because someone set her house ablaze.

But no one is looking for Monique Penermon's killer because St. Louis Police have never ruled her death as a homicide.

In St. Louis, two different teams are responsible for investigating suspicious fires -- the Fire Department's Office of Fire Investigation and the Police Department's Bombing and Arson Squad. Both play important roles in collecting and examining evidence, but police have the most important job of all. Only a police investigation can rule a fire an arson. If police don't do that, the fire is not a criminal act and there is no criminal investigation.

That's exactly what happened with the case of Monique Penermon's death.

When Bombing and Arson Squad detectives did their investigation, they found evidence both fires could have been accidents.

Police point to two possible accidental causes for the fires. One is based on the theory embers drifted to the houses from a small trash can in the backyard used for burning paper. The man who did the burning that morning told police he set a fire to keep warm around 2 a.m. The buildings caught fire around 11 a.m. The second theory points to an illegally installed electrical box on the rear of the house where Penermon died. If that electrical box sparked, it could have set the back porch on fire and then spread to the house down the block.

Because those possibilities exist, police were unable to call the fires arson. The case is listed as unsolved and open, but it's growing colder by the day.

Reginald Slay acknowledges either series of events is possible. Which does he think is more likely to have happened?

Based on the neighborhood, the crowd his stepdaughter ran with and rumors he's heard on the street, Slay is convinced his daughter was murdered.

A conviction only strengthened by one more piece of evidence from the Fire Department's investigation. The building between the two that burned... was untouched by fire.