The mother of three young girls who died in a house fire on Christmas Day is believed to have tried to kill herself, it emerged today.
‘She is okay…She is out (of the hospital) and somewhere safe. It’s just terrible, nobody could really hold up well under the circumstances,’ the relative told New York Daily News.
http://liarcatchers.com/arson_investigation.html
Police say smoke detectors and fire extinguishers may have been removed from the Connecticut home where a deadly fire erupted on Christmas Day, killing the three young girls and their grandparents.
Seven-year-old twins Grace and Sarah Badger, nine-year-old Lily Badger and their mother’s parents Lomer and Pauline Johnson died in the Stamford home destroyed by blistering fire.
New reports suggest smoke alarms were in place before the fire, but were removed as part of a renovation process on the $1.7 million Victorian
Madonna Badger, whose boyfriend was the only other survivor in the blaze which may have been started by embers from a yule log, was taken to hospital last Thursday after injuring herself.
A relative said she is now out of danger and ‘somewhere safe’ trying to come to terms with her horrific loss.
Construction workers, overseen by their mother’s boyfriend, contractor contractor Michael Borcina, are being investigated for possible criminal charges.
According to CBS 2, investigators have talked to several people involved in the work being done on the five-bedroom home, which was being overseen by Mr Borcina.
Mrs Badger was interviewed last week.
Officials want to determine whether the house had working smoke detectors. They say the fire was started by embers in a bag of discarded fireplace ashes.
Construction workers allegedly told investigators that the alarms and extinguishers were removed and stored in the garage when painters began working on the house.
Police would not confirm those reports.
The network also reports that Matthew Badger, the girls father and Mrs Badger’s estranged husband, has hired a private investigation firm to look into the fire.
Private investigator Michael Ciravolo, a retired NYPD investigator who is not associated with the investigation on behalf of Mr Badger, told the network: ‘If they find something that in their estimation is criminality or negligence on the part of someone, they have a duty and I’m sure they will take it to the police.’
Police have officially ruled out any foul play in the investigation into the Badger home fire, but are now looking to see if there are any accidental criminal charges that will be filed. Specifically, charges of criminally negligent homicide or reckless manslaughter are both possible charges in a case like this.
Stamford police say they hope to wrap up their investigation in the next two weeks.
At the time of the fire, the mansion was still under construction, and though it did have a fire alarm system in place, it is reported it was not installed and working at the time.
Mr Borcina’s company, Tiberias Construction, has been heavily scrutinized during the investigation as well, and it was discovered that several required forms were missing.
The house did not have a new certificate of occupancy since the Badgers moved in, and MrBorcina’s contracting licenses had expired at the time of the fire. His contractor registration for work in the state of Connecticut expired in 2000, and his home improvement license for the state of New York expired in June 2010.
Mr Borcina has hired Eugene Riccio, a high-profile criminal defence attorney, to represent him in this case, but this is not his first run in with the law over his construction sites.
Greenwich Time earlier reported that he owes almost $100,000 in from previous legal judgements, and is also in the midst of two other lawsuits from clients- one in Manhattan and one in Long Island.
Because the house was torn down immediately after the fire, at the request of the local fire department which deemed it a continued safety risk, investigators are not hoping to find any evidence at the scene.
The fire killed 7-year-old twins Grace and Sarah Badger, 9-year-old Lily Badger and grandparents Lomer and Pauline Johnson.
Mr Johnson was a department store Santa Claus who had worked as safety director for a Louisville, Kentucky, company.
Mr Borcina appeared at Ms Badger’s side- along with her ex-husband and his current girlfriend- at the January 5 funeral for the three girls.
Fire Chief Antonio Conte said the fire was Stamford’s deadliest since a 1987 blaze that also killed five people.
