48 Hours - Death Without Mercy

On November 29, 2005, a fire struck the West Virginia home of Jimmy and Shelly Michael. Jimmy's charred remains were found by firefighters and his death was suspicious to police from the get-go. Was evidence of a murder lost in the blaze? “48 Hours" Correspondent Susan Spencer reports. This classic "48 Hours" episode last aired on 4/18/2009. Watch all-new episodes of “48 Hours” on Saturdays, and stream on demand on Paramount+.

Duration: 41m
Broadcast on: 27 Nov 2025
Audio Format: other

[music] 9-1-1, why is your emergency? Hey, we have smoke in the house at Killarney and Eastern. [music] It was Tuesday, November 29th, 2005. 10-27 a.m. in the morning when the call came out. Heavy smoke on the second floor. Okay. We got the third apartment on the way. [music] My name is Shelly Michael. I'm 35 years old. I am a registered nurse. [music] When I arrived, the fire was venting through the roof. There was a hole burned through the roof. I pick up the phone and I find Kelly is on the line and she says, "Shelly, your house is on fire." And I just threw the phone down and said, "I have to go." [music] It was a very intense fire and it was very difficult to extinguish. [music] As I'm driving to the house, I'm shaking, I'm nervous. I'm calling Jimmy on this phone saying, "Where are you? Are houses on fire? Call me back." My name is Dennis Michael. I'm the father of James Michael. And when they contacted, they said there was a fire and Jimmy was in the fire. But they wouldn't give us any details. [music] I see Jimmy's car in the garage and I start yelling, "What's going on? Why is Jimmy's car in the garage?" I just remember saying, "Please go find him, please go find him." You had a fully involved fire in that bedroom which had reached the flashover stage, which means everything in that room was pretty much on fire at that point. I was in the police car and a fireman, I believed, said, "We found your husband and he didn't make it." And I was driving every 18 mile an hour all the way and you're just thinking, "You want to get there as soon as you possibly can." And of course, my wife, Ruth, and myself, we both realized that in our hearts that Jimmy was going. [music] I have not taken my wedding set off ever since we've been married and I'm not ever going to take it off. Jimmy gave it to me and I'll always be his wife. [music] There were a lot of red flags concerning this fire. The position of the body was unusual for a fire inside of a bedroom. When I made it up the stairs and I saw the damage to that bedroom and I walked in, it actually took me a couple seconds to find the body on the bed. That's how bad it was devastated.

Transcription truncated.