When the Pioneer Hotel in downtown Tucson burned days before Christmas in 1970, 29 people died.
The fire was determined to be arson and 16-year-old Louis Taylor was arrested and tried for the crime. He was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.
The case made headlines again whenย Taylor was released in 2013 . He has always proclaimed he is innocent, and now there are many who believe him, though his conviction still stands.
The Pioneer Hotel was Tucson's first "skyscraper" when it was built in 1929.ย
โย Arizona Daily Star
Photos ยฉ Arizona Daily Star or Tucson Citizen, where applicable
The Pioneer Hotel never recovered from the 1970 fire, said Bettina Lyons, niece of the couple who owned the hotel. "Even though they put money into it and put sprinkler systems in, people did not come to stay."
Jack Sheaffer / Arizona Daily Star
Victims are removed from the front entrance to the Pioneer Hotel in Dec. 1970.
Jack Sheaffer / Arizona Daily Star
A injured firefighter is wheeled to an ambulance at the Pioneer Hotel fire on Dec. 20, 1970.
Arizona Daily Star file
In the end, the Pioneer Hotel fire killed 29 people, some of them jumping from windows to escape the flames. Louis Taylor was convicted of arson. The first articles ran in the Star Dec. 20, 1970.
The Pioneer Hotel in 1961.
Arizona Daily Star file
Firefighters on an old Tucson Fire ladder truck help a woman down from the upper floors during the Pioneer Hotel fire on Dec. 20, 1970.
Arizona Daily Star file
A firefighter sprays water on windows of the upper floors of the Pioneer Hotel fire on Dec. 20, 1970.
Arizona Daily Star file
A man stands at the window on one of the upper floors of the Pioneer Hotel fire on Dec. 20, 1970, as the fire rages above.
Arizona Daily Star file
A firefighter helps an unidentified man after plucking him from a room near the top of the Pioneer International Hotel which caught fire early in Dec. 1970.
Manuel Miera/Tucson Citizen
Tucson firefighers apply a steady stream of water during the Pioneer Hotel fire in Dec. 1970. Tucson's firefighting equipment was ruled inadequate following this fire when they were unable to aid many trapped on the higher floors.
Tucson Citizen
Flames and smoke shoot from the windows in the upper floors during the Pioneer Hotel fire in Dec. 1970.
Tucson Citizen
Flames and smoke shoot from the windows in the upper floors as firefighters extend the ladder to save those below during the Pioneer Hotel fire in Dec. 1970.
Tucson Citizen
Victims are removed from the front entrance to the Pioneer Hotel in Dec. 1970.
Manuel Miera / Tucson Citizen
Victims are removed from the front the entrance to the Pioneer Hotel in Dec. 1970.
Tucson Citizen
Smoke billows from the upper floor of the Pioneer International Hotel as three firemen work to rescue survivors of the early-morning blaze. The firemen at the bottom is helping an elderly Pioneer tenant to walk down the ladder.
Jack Scheaffer / Arizona Daily Star
Fireman help the injured at the Pioneer Hotel blaze in Dec. 1970.
Jack Sheaffer / Arizona Daily Star
A hotel patron is helped down the ladder to safety during the Pioneer Hotel Fire in Dec. 1970.
Tucson Citizen
Pioneer Hotel Fire
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson firefighters climb a ladder at the Pioneer Hotel Fire in 1970. Courtesy of Tucson Fire Department
Tucson Fire Dept.
Tucson firefighters help an elderly patron down the ladder at the Pioneer Hotel fire in Tucson on Dec. 20, 1970.
Arizona Daily Star
G.L. Scoggins, catering manager, talks to exhausted Tucson firefighers at the Pioneer Hotel fire in Tucson on Dec. 20, 1970.
Arizona Daily Star
An exhausted Tucson firefighter at the Pioneer Hotel fire in Tucson on Dec. 20, 1970.
Arizona Daily Star
People draped in blankets outside the Pioneer Hotel in Tucson after a fatal fire on Dec. 20, 1970.
Arizona Daily Star
People in downtown Tucson gaze up at the Pioneer Hotel the morning after the deadly fire in Dec. 1970.
Dan Tortorell / Tucson Citizen
People in downtown Tucson gaze up at the Pioneer Hotel the morning after the deadly fire in Dec. 1970.
Dan Tortorell / Tucson Citizen
Aftermath of the Pioneer Hotel Fire in Dec. 1970.
Tucson Citizen
The aftermath of the Pioneer Hotel Fire in Dec. 1970.
Tucson Citizen
The bedroom suite at the Pioneer Hotel kept by the Steinfelds, owners of Steinfelds Department Store. The couple died in the massive hotel fire on Dec. 20, 1970.
Arizona Daily Star
Aftermath of the Pioneer Hotel in Dec. 1970.
Tucson Citizen
Funeral of victims of the Pioneer Hotel Fire in Dec. 1970.
Tucson Citizen
Louis Taylor in 1970. Taylor was tried and convicted of 28 counts of felony murder in connection with the fire at the Pioneer Hotel, Tucson.
Harry Lewis / Arizona Daily Star
Arizona prison inmate Louis C. Taylor, serving a life sentence after being convicted in the deaths of 28 people in the 1970 Pioneer Hotel fire. A 29th person died later of injuries from the fire.
Ariz. Dept. of Corrections
Louis Taylor shakes the hand of his first attorney from 1972, Howard Kashman, back to camera, as his current defense team from Phoenix surrounds him after a hearing in Pima County Superior Court in Tucson, Ariz. on Tuesday April 2, 2013. Taylor, who was originally convicted of 28 counts of felony murder in connection with the fire, was released from prison after 42 years.ย
Benjie Sanders/Arizona Daily Star