 In seeking to find who had set fire to the Farrar – Green home , investigators looked first for physical evidence of fire @-@ setting upon those who had been in the house . They suspected that because of the use of accelerant , the fire may have flashed over at the point of ignition and singed or burned the setter . Accordingly , they tested clothing worn by both Farrar and Green that night and took samples of the hair of both . Neither Green 's nor Farrar 's clothing showed evidence of having been in contact with accelerant ; Farrar 's hair showed no singeing , but Green 's — which had been cut twice between the time of the fire and the time the police took hair samples from her — showed " significant singeing " . Detectives recalled that Green had denied ever having been in close proximity to flames ; she had reported leaving the house after seeing smoke and not coming into contact with the fire either on the deck outside her bedroom or in the process of coaxing Kate off the garage roof . Neighbors of the family reported that when Green had come to their door to ask them to call for help , her hair had been wet . Though their suspicions pointed to Debora Green , investigators continued to receive tips attributing the fire to any number of people and the investigation continued with no public statement about suspects . 
