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Biggest fire in colorado history but start a small fire, suppress it and be recognized as a hero. >> reporter: and so whether heart-broken terry barton remains a history. the case remains not known. she pled guilty. what does it say about the evidence. >> it was strong. >> reporter: jones says in a strange way she feels sorry for terry barton and her daughters. >> people think they burn something and it's gone but there is evidence there and it speaks loudly and key in this case. >> reporter: also key, this rookie fire investigator's instincts that took clues and solved a mystery out of ashes....

To our theory. the steam and head, the second one, the head and the steam and the third one, the head and the stem. >> reporter: they said the arsonist purposely struck the matches with the grass. remember terry barten? he thought maybe she would remember key details. >> bring her up there as a witness and have her reenact her actions on the day of the fire. her story is she smelled smoke. >> she drove up on the fire and saw it and parked her vehicle. >> reporter: >> and found the comp fire burning at 20 by 20 feet. >> reporter: if you look there among the trees you can see them timing barton'...

The letter. it was an emotional act, and it was a stupid act on my part and i tried to cover it up because of fear. >> she was admitting to being responsible for the fire and that was the goal. >> reporter: but jones said the evidence didn't point to paper. >> i didn't find paper. >> reporter: to an untrained eye it would seem plausible that the matches and papers burned in the campfire and that's the end of that. >> well, i mean i still had the matches, and they didn't blow away. >> you know, i was pretty confident that if there had been paper there, you know, we would have found it. >> repor...

Photographed the campfire ring and searched for clues. their initial conclusion, a in-brainer, careless campers started the fire. in fact, a witness did report seeing a van leaving the area. >> i'm thinking why am i going to a campfire, you know? >> reporter: jones remembers thinking it was a waste of time tracking six hours through the smoky haze to find and question a negligent camper? what is it like being back to the scene of the crime? >> it's -- it's a little strange to be back because it doesn't look anything like it did then. >> reporter: when jones first arrived here, the very place w...

Possible. >> we asked the analyst for one, could a person have smelled smoke from a 20 x 20 fire and they said no, there is no way you could have. >> reporter: at that moment the mystery would shift once again. >> the more we talked to her, the clearer it became to us that she moved from a witness to a person of interest. >> reporter: it changed from who done it to a more perplexing question, would a forest worker, a mother of two set off what became the worst fire in colorado history? >> up next, part two of thelma's stormry and an alibi that doesn't add up to seasoned detectives. we'll see h...