Pat LaLama Reports: Harry Burkhart’s Burning Love
January 26, 2012
[ Pat LaLama's stellar career in broadcast journalism is a chronicle of some of the most iconic events in modern history. Here's her take on a Tinsel Town case where truth is definitely stranger then fiction. Read her Bio >> ]
This is a true crime story involving three countries, Nazi conspiracies, Jim Morrison’s former home, fraud, Tantric massage, and an arsonist on the loose near the Hollywood Walk of Fame. This of course, is Los Angeles where truth is stranger than fiction.
53 year old German national Dorothee Burkhart was arrested last December 28 in Hollywood, California. She’s wanted back in Germany on 16 counts of fraud and three counts of embezzlement involving shoddy real estate scams and skipping out on a $10,000 bill for breast augmentation.
Upon her arrest, Dorothee’s devoted 24 year old son Harry appeared traumatized. At his mother’s hearing in Federal court in downtown Los Angeles, Harry railed on the judge—threw F-bombs and insults at the United States—and professed his undying hatred for each and every American.
Dorothee’s arrest was a long time coming. In 2007 she was in police custody in Germany. After suffering chest pains, authorities brought Dorothee to a hospital for examination. She escaped through a window and ran to a train station.
Since then, mother and son have carved out a vagabond lifestyle that spanned three countries…Germany, Canada (where the pair was cared for by members of the Mennonite community) and by 2010, the United States. Dorothee and Harry had most recently been living in a modest Hollywood apartment building. No one is certain what either does for a living, but Dorothee is linked to a service that provides “professional” body massages. “Doctor sexologist and tantra goddess” reads the website advertisement.
By all accounts, the two were inseparable. Harry appeared childlike and suffered from myriad mental disorders. Dorothee’s sole mission was to fiercely protect her son from anyone who sought to do him harm.
Just after Dorothee’s December arrest, Los Angeles went up in flames. A good chunk of it anyway. 51 arson fires were set over a four day period—between December 30th and January 2nd. Most of the fires started in parking garages, but many spread to nearby buildings including the former home of legendary Doors lead singer, Jim Morrison. No one was seriously injured but the fires caused more than three million dollars in damage. Firefighters were hard pressed to keep up. Cops were on high alert. The city was terrorized. The elusive arsonist was even torching the famed Hollywood and Highland entertainment complex near the iconic Walk of Fame. L.A. residents and throngs of tourists here for the New Year’s holiday were terrorized. Angelinos had not seen a rash of fires like this since the infamous Los Angeles riots of 1992.
Police released surveillance tape from one of the fire scenes. It showed the face of the man they suspected was starting the blazes. Not long after, a keen eyed deputy U.S. Marshall recognized that face when the surveillance video was shown on television. He was certain it was the same young man he had witnessed in federal court a few days earlier displaying the-anti America tirade. Federal agents and L.A. arson investigators joined forces and soon identified the suspect. Harry Burkhart.
In the early morning hours of January 2nd, reserve Los Angeles Sheriff’s Deputy Shervin Lalezary spotted Harry Burkhart on Sunset Boulevard driving a blue minivan with Canadian plates. Fire-starting materials were found in the van. Burkhart was taken into custody. Later, investigators found newspaper clippings about the fires in Burkhart’s apartment. Police believe Burkhart, distraught over his mother’s arrest and potential deportation, set the fires in retaliation.
On Tuesday, Harry Burkhart pleaded not guilty to 100 arson-related counts in connection with 49 fires that erupted in Hollywood, West Hollywood and the San Fernando Valley. If convicted of all charges he faces 80 years in prison. In defense of her son, Dorothee displayed her own dramatic outbursts, blaming German Nazi’s for the fires. She insists that she and her son have been the target of a Nazi conspiracy that has spanned ten years.
For mother and son the separation is torment. It’s been three weeks since they have spoken. Harry is being held in county jail on $7.5 million dollars bail. He is also suspected of arson in Germany and being investigated for similar crimes in Canada. His next hearing is March 1 in Los Angeles.
Dorothee is in the custody of federal authorities and is due back in court February 7th. A lawyer is trying to arrange a meeting between them.
A German lawyer, who once represented Dorothee, described this mother-son relationship as mutually dependent. He told the Los Angeles Times, “They were somehow like one, that one could not exist without the other, all they had was the other one.” At least for now, Dorothee Burkhart’s dreams of protecting her troubled son have been reduced to ashes.
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In this image taken from video released on Jan. 2, 2012 by OnScene.tv, arson suspect Harry Burkhart, 24, a German national, is arrested in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles. Burkhart was pulled over by a reserve sheriff's deputy and later booked for investigation of arson of an inhabited dwelling. Since the arrest, firefighters have not responded to any other suspicious fires. Police declined to reveal any motive for more than 50 fires that have occurred since Friday in Hollywood, neighboring West Hollywood and the San Fernando Valley, causing about $3 million in damage. (AP Photo/OnScene.tv)
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