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Did an Illinois firefighter have a secret he was prepared to kill for?


On Nov. 25, 2020, the day earlier than Thanksgiving, responders rushed to a home hearth in Mt. Morris, Illinois. They found 27-year-old Melissa Lamesch inside, lifeless on the ground by the oven within the kitchen.

Initially, investigators had been unsure whether or not the fireplace was intentional or unintended. However after taking a better look, they believed foul play was concerned and that the fireplace was arson. They didn’t discover any electrical points on the home and discovered that the oven and range burners had been all within the off place. The post-mortem carried out on Lamesch revealed no soot in her lungs and regular carbon monoxide ranges, however there have been indicators of strangulation. Investigators concluded that Lamesch was murdered earlier than the fireplace began. However why would somebody need to kill Melissa Lamesch?

“48 Hours” contributor Nikki Battiste studies on the case in “The Firefighter’s Secret,” airing Saturday, Nov. 30, at 10/9c on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.

Melissa Lamesch
Melissa Lamesch

Pictures by Angel Studio


When the fireplace occurred, Lamesch had been simply two days away from giving start to a child boy. She was a devoted EMT and was excited to grow to be a dad or mum. Nonetheless, investigators discovered there was somebody who was not as enthused – the expectant father of the infant, 33-year-old Matthew Plote, who was a firefighter-paramedic.

When Lamesch let Plote know she was carrying his child, she was stunned by his response, says Lamesch’s sister, Cassie Baal. “Melissa thought he would need one thing to do with the infant. To that time, she thought he was a fairly good man,” Baal informed “48 Hours.” “She noticed a special aspect of him and that basically upset her.”

Investigators discovered Plote saved the truth that he was going to grow to be a dad a secret, together with from his mother and father and his co-workers. Rob Schultz, hearth chief on the Carol Stream Fireplace District the place Plote labored, defined to Battiste how uncommon it was for somebody to not discuss an enormous life occasion on the firehouse. “We’re right here 24 hours a day,” Schultz stated. “It is a — only a regular, uh, course of being a firefighter … that you simply discuss your loved ones, your private life, and what is going on on good, dangerous or detached.”

Matthew Plote
Matthew Plote

Carol Stream Fireplace District


Though Plote appeared disinterested in changing into a father, Lamesch had sporadically saved in contact with him, even sending him sonograms. “Typically he would reply somewhat bit, however she did not know actually the place he stood precisely,” Baal stated.

Lamesch, although, was able to handle the infant on her personal, with the assistance of her household. Regardless of Lamesch not asking Plote for any kind of assist, investigators imagine that as her due date drew nearer, Plote grew to become more and more involved that having a baby was going to change his way of life and that is why he had saved that child a secret.

“He was protecting a secret — the truth that he fathered a child within the hopes that the kid would not be born,” Ogle County Assistant State’s Legal professional Allison Huntley informed Battiste.

The state started constructing a case in opposition to Plote. He was arrested on March 9, 2022, on fees together with homicide, the intentional murder of an unborn baby and arson.

There was proof that Plote had been at Lamesch’s home the day of the fireplace – one thing Plote admitted when he spoke with investigators. “He informed them every thing … about his presence there, he did not cover any of that,” protection legal professional John Kopp informed “48 Hours.” He says his shopper went there to debate plans for being concerned within the child’s life. “They mentioned their funds,” Kopp stated. “After which Matt left as she was making some lunch.”

Prosecutors suspected Plote was mendacity about Lamesch being alive when he left and that he set the home on hearth to attempt to cowl his tracks. “I imagine from the very starting he was making an attempt to arrange a narrative that there was an unintended home hearth, that she had been cooking one thing,” stated Ogle County Assistant State’s Legal professional Heather Kruse. “Which might clarify why her physique was discovered within the kitchen.”

For Chief Schultz, the considered a firefighter inflicting hurt was unthinkable. “It does not chime with what a firefighter is,” he informed “48 Hours.” “We put fires out. We do not begin fires. We assist folks. We do not harm folks.”

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