Is Trial by Fire a True Story? Inside Cameron Todd Willingham’s Triple-Homicide Conviction — and Why a Texas Governor Was Accused of Interfering in His Case

Trial by Fire isn’t just a heart wrenching warning about the dangers of a broken judicial system, it is also a fictionalized retelling of the real-life trial and execution of Cameron Todd Willingham.

Laura Dern starred in the 2019 film as Elizabeth Gilbert, a playwright who became pen pals with Willingham (Jack O’Connell) and strongly believed he was innocent. 

After Netflix picked up Trial by Fire — which was based on a 2009 New Yorker article — on Feb. 13, the film rose to the streamer’s top 10. Its newfound popularity has led viewers to wonder more about the real triple homicide case — and the man who claimed his innocence up until his dying day. 

On Dec. 23, 1991, a fire destroyed Willingham’s home in Corsicana, Texas. Though he was able to escape the flames, his three daughters — 2-year-old Amber Louise Kuykendall and 1-year-old twins Karmon Diane Willingham and Kameron Marie Willingham — were killed. Their mother, Stacy Kuykendall Willingham, was out shopping for Christmas presents at a local Salvation Army. 

Willingham claimed that he was sleeping when the fire started, but prosecutors believed that he intentionally set it by pouring a liquid accelerant throughout the house. He was convicted and sentenced to death in 1992. 

Seven years later, the death row inmate started corresponding with Gilbert. She raised concerns about contradictory witness statements and potential flaws in the case that were eventually picked up by multiple media outlets and organizations like the Innocence Project. 

Despite these red flags, Willingham was still executed by lethal injection in 2004.

Here’s everything to know about the true story behind Trial by Fire and what happened to the real Cameron Todd Willingham.

Who was Cameron Todd Willingham?

Cameron Todd Willingham was an auto mechanic who lived in the small city of Corsicana with his then-wife, Stacy, and their three daughters. After he dropped out of high school, Willingham was arrested for a string of petty crimes like shoplifting and stealing a bicycle as well as driving under the influence, per The New Yorker.

The New Yorker story alleged that Willingham had a reputation for drinking too much, being unfaithful and physically abusing Stacy. Though she claimed to investigators that her husband had hit her, Stacy allegedly said that he never abused their children, instead describing them as “spoiled rotten.”

After Willingham was convicted of murdering his three children by arson in 1992, he spent 12 years on death row. Willingham made several appeals, but none of them were successful. 

How accurate is Trial by Fire?

The 2019 film Trial by Fire remained largely faithful to the real events of Willingham’s case and execution. But some aspects of the movie were dramatized (like the timeline of Gilbert’s car accident), and some were completely made up (like Chris Coy’s prison guard character).

To bring Willingham’s story to life, the scenes between Dern and O’Connell’s characters were filmed in a real maximum-security prison. 

“On other films I’ve worked in jails, so I’ve experienced it,” the Big Little Lies actress told Page Six in 2019. “This one was maximum-security. The environment is invented to enforce that. Weapons were everywhere. You’re pushed around. I went in afraid. I came out in heartbreak. Like this was a waste of human life.”

Who is Johnny Webb?

In 1992, Johnny Webb was incarcerated for robbery and alleged on the stand in Willingham’s trial that the father of three confessed to him. According to Webb’s testimony, which he later recanted, Willingham told him that he intentionally started the fire to cover up an injury that his wife had given one of their kids. Autopsy reports on the three girls revealed no visible signs of trauma, per The New Yorker. 

Webb’s testimony was eventually ruled inadmissible because it was hearsay, and in 2015, he claimed to The Marshall Project that the lead prosecutor in Willingham’s case, John H. Jackson, threatened him with a life sentence if he didn’t take the stand.

“I did not want to see Willingham go to death row and die for something I damn well knew was a lie and something I didn’t initiate,” Webb said. “I lied on the man because I was being forced by John Jackson to do so.” 

In 2017, the State Bar of Texas accused the prosecutor of misconduct in the Willingham trial, including failing to disclose the deal with Webb to the defense. The jury rejected the misconduct claims, per The Marshall Project, and Jackson has maintained that no deal was made with Webb for his testimony.

Was Cameron Todd Willingham innocent?

Willingham’s murder conviction was never overturned. But since his execution, more evidence has emerged supporting the theory that he was innocent and that the fire that killed his three children was accidental. 

In addition to Webb recanting his testimony that Willingham confessed to him, the Chicago Tribune consulted fire experts in 2004 who claimed that the arson theories used were outdated and had been disproven by new scientific advancements. One of those experts, Cambridge University-educated chemist Gerald Hurst (played by Jeff Perry in Trial by Fire), claimed that there was no evidence to suggest arson and that the incident was “just a fire.” 

Willingham’s ex-wife, who divorced him within a year of his conviction, was initially vocal about his innocence. Stacy even wrote to the state governor that she believed “there is no way he could have possibly committed this crime,” per The New Yorker. 

But in 2009, the mother of three gave a statement to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram claiming that Willingham confessed to killing their kids weeks before he was executed, per the Chicago Tribune. According to her, Willingham was upset because she threatened to divorce him and allegedly told her the night before the fire that she “could never have Amber or the twins with anyone else but him.” 

Stacy has since maintained her stance that Willingham was guilty, writing on Instagram as recently as 2021 that she hoped to “once more prove how guilty Todds truly was and debunk the Gerald Hurst report that never actually proved anything.” 

What happened to Cameron Todd Willingham?

Prior to Willingham’s execution, his attorneys appealed to the governor of Texas at the time, Rick Perry, for clemency.

They also sent him Hurst’s report on Willingham’s case, which the fire expert noted was similar to that of a man he helped exonerate in 2004 named Ernest Willis. “It was like I was looking at the same case,” Hurst told The New Yorker. “Just change the names.”

But Willingham was denied clemency and was executed by lethal injection on Feb. 17, 2004. His last words were, “The only statement I want to make is that I am an innocent man – convicted of a crime I did not commit. I have been persecuted for 12 years for something I did not do. From God’s dust I came and to dust I will return – so the earth shall become my throne. I gotta go, road dog.” 

Per the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, the final part of Willingham’s statement was omitted due to profanity.

Did Gov. Rick Perry interfere with the investigation into Cameron Todd Willingham’s innocence?

In 2008, Governor Perry was accused of interfering with the Texas Forensic Science Commission’s investigation into the Willingham case. Days before expert arson investigator Craig Beyler was set to testify about his findings that the fire was not arson, Perry dismissed the commission’s chairman and two other members, per TIME. 

This move delayed the investigation, which closed in 2011 after the Texas Attorney General ruled that the commission didn’t have jurisdiction, per the Death Penalty Information Center. Perry denied the claims that he intentionally interfered in the investigation.

After leaving his governor post in 2015, Perry served as the secretary of energy under President Donald Trump. He announced his resignation in 2019, per NPR. 

Where is Elizabeth Gilbert now?

After years of correspondence, Willingham asked Gilbert to come to his execution to help him cope with his “fears, thoughts and feelings,” per The New Yorker. But she didn’t make it after a car accident left her paralyzed from the neck down.

Gilbert was recovering in an intensive-care unit when Willingham was executed. The New Yorker reported in 2010 that after five years of physical therapy, Gilbert took her first steps using a walker. She credited her perseverance to Willingham in the original 2009 article.

“All that time, I thought I was saving Willingham, and I realized then that he was saving me, giving me the strength to get through this,” Gilbert said. “I know I will one day walk again, and I know it is because Willingham showed me the kind of courage it takes to survive.”