Cameron Todd Willingham: Wrongfully Convicted and Executed in Texas

Cameron Todd Willingham was executed in Texas in 2004 for allegedly setting a fire that killed his three young daughters 13 years earlier.

09.13.10 By Innocence Staff

Cameron Todd Willingham in his cell on death row, in 1994. Photograph By Ken Light/The New Yorker.

Cameron Todd Willingham in his cell on death row, in 1994. Photograph By Ken Light/The New Yorker.

UPDATE (5/1/2023): Please note that certain links are greyed out because they are no longer working.

Cameron Todd Willingham was executed in Texas in 2004 for allegedly setting a fire that killed his three young daughters 13 years earlier. He always claimed his innocence, and the arson investigation used to convict him was questioned by leading experts before Willingham was executed. Since 2004, further evidence in the case has led to the inescapable conclusion that Willingham did not set the fire for which he was executed. The Texas Forensic Science Commission issued its report on the convictions of Cameron Todd Willingham and Ernest Willis on April 15, 2011 recommending more education and training for fire investigators and implementing procedures to review old cases (the commission issued an addendum to the report on October 28, 2011).