Wife and son killer caught by his new bride

Karl Karlsen's first wife and his son both died in horrific "accidents" - then his second wife became suspicious

- GAIL SHORTLAND

Tragedy struck on New Year’s Day in 1991 as flames rose high up into the Sierra Nevada sky from a former gold miner’s shack by the foothills of the mountains. The home of the Karlsen family, in Murphys, California, was ablaze.

Amid the chaos and smoke, Karl Karlsen managed to rescue his three young children, daughters Erin and Kati and son Levi. But his wife Christina, 30, was trapped in a bathroom behind a securely boarded-up window that she couldn’t break through.

The heat was too fierce for Karlsen to go back in and she perished in the fire. Christina died of smoke inhalation as she cowered in the bathtub with only a washcloth over her mouth for protection. It was a tragedy that would haunt the community.

The fire had seemingly started because of a string of unfortunate coincidences. Karlsen, who worked for Christina’s dad’s air-conditioning and heating business, said his wife had broken the bathroom window a few days earlier, which explained why it was boarded up with plywood from the outside, preventing her escape. She’d also left a jug of paraffin in the hallway outside the bathroom thinking it was water – and that had been accidentally knocked over. Then a faulty electric light had been placed too close to the carpet, which ignited the blaze.