In 1993, the Mississippi River overflowed to historic levels. But one flood near Quincy, Illinois, wasn’t entirely nature’s doing. It was allegedly the work of a man who just wanted to drink beer without his wife around.
From April to Oct. 1993, the Mississippi and Missouri rivers drowned America’s midwestern heartland. Weeks of rain had pushed the rivers to record levels, destroying farmland, homes, and entire towns. But on July 16, just north of Quincy, Illinois, disaster took an absurd turn. The West Quincy levee suddenly broke, unleashing a wall of water that destroyed everything in its path.
Authorities claimed the break wasn’t an accident and soon narrowed down a suspect. 23-year-old James Robert Scott, a Quincy resident with an unlawful past, including burglary and arson convictions. Prosecutors claimed Scott had deliberately removed/loosened the sandbags holding the levee together so that his wife, stuck on the Illinois side, couldn’t make it home.
Scott wanted to get drunk without his wife around
Bizarrely, they claimed that he caused the flood simply to strand her, crack open some beers, and have a few nights of “freedom” with friends. The motive sounded like bad fiction, but the court believed it. The Mississippi flood, caused by his direct interference with the levee, wiped out businesses, farms, and highways. The Bayview Bridge, which connected Illinois and Missouri, was shut down for months.
The flood even ignited a nearby gas station when fuel tanks floated away. It was a disaster and cost millions of dollars in property damage. Things were already looking bad for Scott when eyewitnesses, too, claimed they saw him near the levee before the break. When questioned, Scott gave inconsistent answers and even allegedly bragged to friends that he had tampered with the levee.
James Scott’s conviction, and where is he now?
Scott was eventually arrested, and his trial took place in Nov. 1994, drawing huge media attention. He was charged under Missouri’s purposely causing a catastrophe statute. It is a rarely used 1979 law, usually reserved for terrorists or arsonists. A jury found him guilty and sentenced him to 10 years to life in prison. But even three decades later, the case hasn’t stopped raising eyebrows.
Some journalists and legal experts argue that Scott was made a scapegoat for a natural disaster that engineers say could’ve happened anyway. Additionally, his trial was based on circumstantial evidence and character attacks from acquaintances. A retrial took place in 1998, but yielded the same results. The court ordered his sentence to run consecutively with his previous 10-year burglary sentence.
Scott is currently serving his sentence at the Jefferson City Correctional Center in Missouri. His earliest possible release date is 2026. His only hope for parole is a confession, which he refuses to make. The man has maintained his innocence for decades now. Yet, he’s still behind bars.
