Human mental state questioned in arson in the plant city that killed 4

Plant City – 911 Call came after midnight on July 31st.

Sean Gossett sounded like a child and was scared. He directed dispatchers to a five-acre plot on a five-acre county line road near Plant City, where the mobile home had been ingrained in Flames.

“It’s out of control,” Gossett said. “There are people at home.”

Gossett, 25, with an intellectual disability, said he doesn’t know what caused the fire.

“The thing is, when it started, I didn’t smell at the time, so I forgot that something was on fire,” he said. “And then I became a bitch — and I just cried because it wasn’t my fault.”

The Gossett’s Word Records are one of a series of records containing more than 300 pages of documents recently released by the Hillsboro State Lawyer’s Office.

Prosecutors say he intentionally started the fire and killed four people who shared a home with him. The record creates the most detailed, but most detailed portraits of the past, up to the date of the case, complicated by questions about Gossett’s mental state and whether he can understand the court process.

Last fall, his lawyer asked the judge to dismiss the case, arguing that Gossett was so developmentally impaired that he could not face trial. The state prosecutor disagrees. They believe he can restore to his abilities and hope that he will commit to a safe hospital until he can return to court.

Arson fire

Firefighters and sheriff’s deputies were pulled up to a property near the Polk County Line just before 12:30am, with Gosset standing barefoot in the grass and clutching his drawstring bag. He saw the fire truck being pulled up and firefighters took out a large hose to attack the flames. The roof has collapsed.

By the time the fire started, they were consuming almost all of their double wide and separate sheds. In a bedroom in the southeast, firefighters discovered 26-year-old Jessica Bowman and her brother, Joseph Critos, 48, lying on the floor. They found Jessica’s mother, Judy Foster, and Jessica’s husband, Chase Bowman, 30, in another bedroom, near the living room, 70 years old.

Their cause of death was determined to be smoke inhalation and heat damage.

In the master bedroom, firefighters found the bodies of four dogs. One of them was in a wooden frame.

The lawmakers learned that Gossett had been staying at the house for about two years after leaving his father’s house.

He stayed in what was called the “Florida Room” in the police report, but it was nothing more than an enclosed front porch with beds, filing cabinets and other items.

When firefighters worked on the scene, deputies placed Gossett behind the police car.

He told deputies he was on the phone with a friend when the fire began. He said he thought it came from the air conditioner in his window. Panic makes him go and tells Chase and Jessica. He said someone told him to get some water. He says that before Joseph Crites woke up and went outside and screamed at him, he went back home and closed the door behind him.

He grabbed athletic shoes, mouth guards, batting gloves, sunglasses and a bag and said he left home before calling 911. He took Buster.

Hours after the flames, fire investigators looked into the burnt wreckage. The burning pattern was the most intense at the northern edge of the house, in the enclosed entrance area that acts as a bedroom for Hossett.

A V-shaped damage pattern on the 2-draw cabinet was facing towards the center of the room. An investigators concluded that between one cabinet on one side and the burnt bedspring on the other.

Among the shards were the burnt Plant City High School Yearbook, fans, burning blankets, paper from cigarette cartons, and spring of handheld lighters.

A changing story

Hours after the fire, Gossett spoke at length with lawmakers while sitting in a patrol vehicle. Investigators later noted that he was unclear about many details.

He was said to have ADHD, anxiety and bipolar disorder for most of his life, but was not diagnosed because “he doesn’t like doctors,” the aide wrote in the report. He said he was prescribed but stopped taking it.

He was adopted when he was five years old. He attended Plant City High School. He knew Jessica Bowman from Plant City’s Special Olympics, who played flag football. Long before the fire, he moved in with her and her family, but they didn’t let him stay in the main part of the house.

He said he was playing with a plastic lighter when the blanket accidentally set the fire on. Some details of what Gossett said have been compiled from the Sheriff’s report. However, the arrest affidavit says he changed his story.

He said he didn’t want to live in the house anymore, but according to the report, Foster didn’t let him leave because she was the recipient of his disability check.

According to the affidavit, he was thinking of putting out the fire all day. He didn’t want to kill them, he said, but he wanted to scare them. He knew that once the house burns out he could return with his father. According to the affidavit, he lit up the paper towels and boxes and explained that he watched the flames spread as the fans blow.

Over the next few weeks, the detective spoke to Gossett and several people nearby. According to the sheriff’s report, father Clyde Gossett doesn’t believe his son is mentally ill, but he says he will bite and kick him when he gets mad. He once had to detain him and call the police.

He also said he must remind his son that he is kind to his family’s dogs. He believed something had to happen for Gossett to “snap.”

A young woman who was friends with both Gossett and Jessica Bowman said he had “been despicable” in high school and bullied her and others. In a written statement to the detective, she said Gossett smashed five dogs into her head until she cried. She also wrote that Bowman said Gossett wanted to kill her, her husband, and the dog.

She goes on to write that Bowman showed her bruises, where she hit her. She wrote that Bowman asked him not to tell anyone because he was scared of Gossett.

He was jealous of his relationship with Chase Bowman, she wrote, but “I don’t want to die alone.” She also wrote that just before the fire, Gossett asked him to help him find a girlfriend.

The ability was questioned

Since late July, Gossett has remained in prison as lawyers and doctors have assessed his mental state.

A pair of psychology experts who examined him determined he had neurocognitive, intellectual and emotional dysfunction. His IQ was pegged between 55 and 65. This indicates an intellectual disability. According to the defense, his mental ability cannot understand the charges of his or her court’s handling.

Experts said his condition was permanent.

However, state prosecutors cited a third expert who fixed Gossett’s IQ at 72 in boundary range. The expert was able to restore to competence within 3-6 months if given proper training.

In a court paper, assistant state attorney Katherine Fund wrote that Gossett “was able to clearly state what happened” and that he apologised for lying.

The judge will hear discussions about Friday’s request for dismissal.