Cop Behind Bars: Part 2

As suspicions grew, Patrick Bradford agreed to take a polygraph. The first test was inconclusive, but according to Minnis, Braford failed the second. Detective Guy Minnis was convinced, and became more convinced afterwards, when Bradford, he says, seemed on the cusp of confessing.

Prosecutor Stan Levco concedes that the evidence he had was highly circumstantial. He felt more confident when he found a witness who remembered seeing a police car in Lohr's driveway the night before, during the critical hour.

Ten months after Tammy's murder, Bradford's trial began. Levco says he is not sure about motive. "My best guess is something happened between the two of them and he went into a rage."

Bradford says he has never snapped like that, and notes that he had no motive. Even his wife testified that her husband wasn't capable of violence. Witnesses who dealt with Bradford that night described him as normal, calm, courteous. Two women he knew said they'd seen him drive past a bar during the critical hour, far from Tammy's.

But state expert Jesse Storey told jurors that the fire was both intense and short, which meant Bradford called it in very soon after it was set. "The fire evidence was probably the case. Prove the fire. Prove the murder," Storey says.

Bradford also took the stand. To the chagrin of his supporters, he was cocky and arrogant. It may have cost him his freedom; the jury deliberated 18 hours before deciding that he was guilty.

Bradford's family has never deserted him, launching its own investigation after the trial. But it has led nowhere. The courts have seen no reason to overturn this highly circumstantial case.

Deborah Nolan was so outraged by Bradford's conviction that she left teaching for law school, hoping some day to help set him free.

Now married and pregnant, Nolan is cramming for the bar exam. For years, she has been pouring over the Bradford case. She cites problems with every key prosecution witness.

As for physical evidence, even the police admit there wasn't much: No DNA, no murder weapon, no blood. "This woman was stabbed 21 times. For anybody to be able to do that and walk away without a trace of it on him is very unlikely," says Nolan.

Detectives say Bradford had time to change uniforms. But Nolan believes police were so focused on Bradford, they missed another suspect: Finis Vincent, Jr. "(Police) seemed to make up their mind about him that morning after 10 minutes, talking to him with his wife, the alibi, standing right there," says Nolan. Minnis admits that police never took a formal statement from Vincent, nor did they search his house or his car.

Vincent refused a request for an interview. But the police say he did pass a polygraph, unlike Bradford.

Determined to prove Storey wrong, Nolan persuaded John De Haan, a highly regarded fire expert, to take a look at the case without charge.

If it could be shown that the fire burned longer than nine minutes, then it already was burning when Bradford got there, as he claims. De Haan thinks that the fire was burning for 15 or 20 minutes.

"At this point based on the fire evidence I'd have to say – I do not think he's responsible for that fire," says De Haan. Storey doesn't buy it, saying you can't investigate a fire from autopsy information and pictures.

Bradford's family, along with Nolan, persuaded veteran fire investigator Don Belles to conduct a series of experiments. The defense had contacted Belles during Bradford's trial but he says it was too late to add him to the witness list.

Bradford's brother Joe enlisted his help by building Belles a house – identical to the one where Lohr lived – to burn. Belles thinks he can establish how long the fire burned – not so much from the damage – but from the smoke. At the trial, two runners testified that, when out that morning, they saw smoke above the trees by Tammy's house.

The smoke they saw was too high to come from a fire that had been burning for only two minutes, Belles says. He thinks it started before Bradford arrived. De Haan agrees. The experiment seemed to confirm it. But Belles concedes that exactly duplicating the fire is impossible. Storey disagrees with Belles' conclusions.

Says Belles: "Maybe it's just arrogance. But I believe, had I been permitted to testify at the time of trial, that this man would not have been convicted."

Although Bradford has lost repeated appeals, Nolan hopes to find some new evidence that will be striking enough to win him a new trial.

Tammy parents, Victor and Cricket Lohr, say Bradford has done nothing to ease their pain, and has never expressed condolences. They believe he is guilty.

Bradford says he has adjusted to prison life as well as an ex-cop can. "There have been the odd occasional incidents, but overall things have pretty well just smoothed out," he says.

The case still haunts Minnis. Bradford was once his friend. Though Minnis worked hard to convict him, the victory, always, has been bittersweet.

"There was still part of me that felt sorry for Patrick. And that sounds terrible. But he's a police officer. And you know there's that feeling that police officers have for one another that you always have that feeling."

Does he still feel that way? "No, he's not a police officer anymore."