1 dead, 1 Injured in Greenwich Fire

 

Greenwich Time- An intentionally set fire killed a 42-year-old man and critically injured a 69-year-old handicapped woman Tuesday morning in their Old Greenwich home, police said.

Neighbors identified the victims as Dean Verboven and his mother, Barbara Verboven. Barbara Verboven remains in critical condition in the burn unit at Bridgeport Hospital, after being initially transported to Greenwich Hospital.

The fire broke out at about 7 a.m. at 46 Havemeyer Lane, police and fire officials said.

Speaking at a news conference at the police station in the afternoon, Police Lt. Kraig Gray said a preliminary investigation determined that the fire was set, but stopped short of using the term arson. He said the fire is being investigated by a joint team of police and firefighters.

Gladys Pardo, who lives next door to Verbovens with her husband, John, said she was sitting at her computer at about 7 a.m. when she saw smoke and flames coming from the window next door.

She screamed to her husband that there was a fire and got out of their house, which is only a few feet away from their neighbors.

When firefighters arrived, Gladys Pardo said she directed them to the ground-floor bedroom of Barbara Verboven, who she said has been wheelchair-bound for about five years. The Pardos and another neighbor, Robert Meehan, directed firefighters to look for a second occupant, at which point they found Dean Verboven and brought him out of the house about five minutes later, Meehan said.

After hearing the firefighters arriving on scene, Meehan said, "I came out and saw the house fully engulfed in smoke."

Meehan said that Dean Verboven was placed in an ambulance, which sat for about five minutes before driving away.

Gray said he did not know if the man had been declared dead on the scene.

Greenwich Fire Chief Peter Siecienski said heavy fire gutted part of the first floor of the house where the two had their bedrooms, and smoke caused heavy damage to the second floor.

Assistant Fire Chief Bob Kick said the state fire marshal's office brought a dog to the scene. The dogs are typically used to search for accelerants, Kick said.

The last fire-related fatality in Greenwich occurred in 2006, according to Kick, who commended firefighters on their work at the Havemeyer Lane scene.

"They did a good job," he said Tuesday night. "They got in there quickly."

A Greenwich police crime scene investigation truck arrived on scene shortly after 9 a.m., and a large section of Havemeyer Lane around MacArthur Drive was closed for several hours while numerous police and firefighters conducted their investigation.

Gray said that the house was "cluttered" and its condition had an effect on the ability of firefighters to get in and pull the residents outside. Both victims were brought out of the rear of the house, neighbors said.

Sixty firefighters from Sound Beach, Cos Cob, North Street and Glenville responded to the 7:10 a.m. call, Siecienski said.

The Pardos said they had been neighbors of the Verbovens for more than 30 years.

"They were a very nice family... This is heartbreaking," said Gladys Pardo.

"It is so hard for me to believe he is dead. He was 8 years old when we moved in," said John Pardo.

Gladys Pardo said that she saw Dean Verboven two days ago, but it has been two years since she saw Barbara Verboven.

Up until recent times, "They were a very outgoing family," Gladys said about the Verbovens.

Fire-Fighting Arsonist Sentenced to 10 Years

PYRO

FAIRFIELD - A former volunteer firefighter got 10 years in prison today for a string of arsons.


Christopher Message had been accused of setting fires in Fairfield, Monroe and Easton.



Message told the court he suffered from mental and emotional issues that were worsened by substance abuse.

BURN IN HELL

This story both infuriated me and scared the hell out of me when I first heard about it yesterday morning.

(On a side note, that makes [two] women in NYC to die in elevators in tragic/strange situations in one week.)

'Fiend confesses to elevator blaze that killed Brooklyn woman who fired him'

NY Post- A Brooklyn fiend repaid the kindness of an elderly woman who hired him for odd jobs by first stealing from her — and then burning her alive when she fired him, police said yesterday.

“I hope he burns in hell!” the victim’s stricken daughter, Sheila Gillespie Hillsman, 49, fumed to pals on Facebook.

Accused sadistic killer Jerome “Jerry’’ Isaac, 47, was reeking of gasoline when he turned himself in to cops more than eight hours after the horrific torching of tragic 73--year-old churchgoer Delores Gillespie.

Cops said Isaac was furious that the postal clerk had refused to pay him for some of the work he’d done at her Prospect Heights apartment after she discovered he’d swiped her kitchenware and DVD player.

Isaac allegedly ambushed the terrified woman at 4:10 p.m. Saturday, standing in the fifth-floor hallway of her building as the elevator doors opened and she started to step off, returning from a trip to Key Foods with bags hanging from her wrists.

Isaac sprayed her with a flammable liquid, used a barbecue lighter to set her ablaze, tossed a Molotov cocktail at her and then sprayed her again for extra measure even though she was already engulfed in flames, screaming in agony, police said.

The madman then fled — first to his nearby apartment at 315 Lincoln Place that he shared with his brother in the gentrifying neighborhood to also try to set it ablaze, police said. He managed to only damage the door frame.

The perp ran next to the rooftop of 571 Lincoln Place, where he hid, thinking he’d been burned — even though he wasn’t — and terrified that he would be easily identified if he was spotted on the street, police said.

He fell asleep on the roof, and when he woke up, Isaac went on the run again, wandering around before finally turning himself in at 12:30 a.m. at Transit District 32, about two miles away in Crown Heights, officials said.

Some of the items he had allegedly used to set ablaze Gillespie were recovered on the Lincoln Place rooftop, authorities said.

“I set the fire in the hallway, and I set the fire in the elevator,” the suspect sniveled to cops after surrendering — although he refused to admit he had also burned Gillespie, police told The Post.

He was charged with first-degree murder and arson.

The victim’s grief-stricken son, Maurice Gillespie, 37, said his trusting mother “just met [Isaac] one day and said he was an honest guy” and hired him.

Her nephew, Rick Causey, 52, who lived with the mother and son, added, “She trusted him” and even gave him a key to the apartment.

But the son said his mom realized that Isaac was a thief at some point earlier this year because she’d be on the street and found herself having to “[buy] her stuff back.”

“He was doing more stealing than cleaning,’’ Causey noted.

After learning of Isaac’s thievery, Gillespie refused to pay him for at least some of his work. A furious Isaac then left a note on the family’s door last summer with a list of chores for which he was demanding payment, relatives said.

Not getting any satisfaction, he began a campaign of terror against Gillespie, kin said.

He was harassing her, chasing her down the street and cursing at her,” Maurice said, adding he’d seen Isaac hanging around across the street from his mother’s apartment at 203 Underhill Ave. three days ago.

Neighbor Dorinda Thomas, 56, said Gillespie was “desperately afraid” of the suspect.

“She knew that something was going to happen to her in that building,” Thomas said. “Everyone knew this.”

Still, cops said Gillespie never filed an official complaint again Isaac, who claimed that she owed him $2,100 for work he’d supposedly done.

But Maurice’s girlfriend, Linda Moses, noted bitterly, “She was just trying to help [Isaac] out, and here we are, for being kind.”

Gillespie, who worked at the General Post Office in East New York, and Isaac were never romantically involved, relatives and cops said.

The suspect’s chilling attack on his victim was caught on video tape and showed him allegedly wearing gloves and a dust mask pulled up on top of his head when he pounced, police said.

His spraying of Gillespie was methodical, ensuring that the beloved Gillespie, known as a local activist who helped the homeless and spoke out passionately against crime in her neighborhood, was covered head to toe in the flammable liquid, police said.

“She’s cowering, trying to protect her face with her hands,’’ said NYPD spokesman Paul Browne, describing footage of Gillespie’s final moments.

Isaac made statements incriminating himself when he was under questioning, sources said.

“He was giving some of this stuff up,” a source said

One police source called the scene as nothing less than “torture.’’

Neighbors said the accused maniac, who had no prior arrests, was known locally as a loner.

“He’s always out riding his bike. He collects empty cans and bottles Sometime, he’ll have a big bag of them . . . He was never friendly. I’ve never seen him talking to anyone,” said Isaac’s neighbor, Eric Charles, 42.

“When I came home I saw all the police. One told me what he did in the elevator and said he did something here too. It’s crazy.”

Causey, Gillespie’s nephew, blamed himself partly for the tragedy, saying he usually walked the victim to and from the street when she went shopping.

“I should have been there,” he said.

Causey said he was watching TV when he heard a commotion and looked into the hallway but that cops and firemen forced him back into the apartment.

He said cops questioned him at the 77th Precinct station house until 9 p.m. Saturday before letting him go.

Neighbors described Gillespie as a “wonderful” person who always looked out for her neighbors and community.

“Everybody in the neighborhood would tell you, anything she had in her house she’d give you,” said Thomas, 56, adding that Gillespie was her nephew’s godmother.

“She was a wonderful lady, you understand.”

Margie Grooms, 67, who lives on the block, said Gillespie was a “community activist.”

Another neighbor who would only say her name was Rose, said Gillespie “was a lady who looked out for everybody. Whoever did this had no heart.”

Additional reporting by Doug Auer, Jessica Simeone, Jamie Schram and Jennifer Bain

This Day In History

Aug 24 1812
The White House and other public buildings in the District of Columbia are torched by the British.

Aug 24 1981
Mark David Chapman sentenced to 20 years for killing Beatle John Lennon.

This Day In History

Jun 23 1993
In the middle of the night, Lorena Bobbitt severs her husband John's penis and drives off, casually discarding the organ in a farm field. Surgeons successfully reattach the penis, allowing John to enter the porn industry. The media devotes 1.3 million column-inches of type to the story as both Lorena and John gain celebrity status; consequently, their last name becomes a verb.

Jun 23 1996
A story by Watergate reporter Bob Woodward in the Washington Post reveals to the world that First Lady Hillary Clinton employed psychic Jean Houston to help her get in touch with her inner "Eleanor Roosevelt."

Jun 23 1997
Malcolm X's widow, Dr. Betty Shabazz, dies after three agonizing weeks in the hospital with third-degree burns covering 80% of her body. The injuries were sustained when her 12-year-old grandson set fire to the family home in Yonkers, New York.

This Day In History

May 7 1959
Small-time boxing promoter Don King is arrested in Cleveland on suspicion of drug dealing. His criminal record includes a 1955 arrest for arson, a 1954 arrest for murder, and others.



May 7 2001
Ronnie Biggs, England's escaped "Great Train Robber," returns to face the music after 35 years as a fugitive. After serving just fifteen months of a 30-year sentence, Biggs escaped from prison and fled to Brazil, where he avoided extradition by fathering the baby of a 19-year-old stripper. Partially paralyzed by a couple of strokes, Biggs returns to England for one last pint of beer before he dies. Instead he is taken into custody at Heathrow airport and promptly sent to Belmarsh prison to serve out the remainder of his sentence.

Cheshire home invasion Survivor Appears on Oprah

CBS News- A Connecticut doctor whose wife and two daughters were killed in a gruesome 2007 home invasion said on Thursday's episode of "The Oprah Winfrey Show" that while he has had suicidal thoughts he chose not to kill himself because he hopes to be with his family in the afterlife.

In court earlier this month, before a man convicted in the killings was sentenced to death, Dr. William Petit said he had struggled with suicidal thoughts, nightmares and flashbacks. Winfrey asked Petit why he decided not to kill himself after all.

"Religious reasons," Petit answered. "I thought in the afterlife, if I was going to meet up with my family, if I did that (commit suicide) then maybe I would never meet up with them again. I wasn't willing to take that chance. I thought that they would not approve and they would want me to go forward."

Petit was the sole survivor of the home invasion. His wife, Jennifer Hawke-Petit, and daughters, 17-year-old Hayley and 11-year-old Michaela, were killed. The mother and youngest daughter were sexually assaulted. Authorities say their attackers tied the girls to their beds, poured gasoline on or around them and set the house on fire.

Steven Hayes of Connecticut was convicted of sexually assaulting and strangling Jennifer Hawke-Petit and killing her daughters. He was sentenced to death. Another defendant, Joshua Komisarjevsky, is to go to trial next year.

Petit told Winfrey he thinks his wife would want him to continue his medical career. He also told Winfrey that he is not considering forgiveness right now.

"I don't think you can forgive ultimate evil," he said. "I think forgiving the essence of evil is not appropriate."

Awesome Antique News Article!

Anything vintage and weird about my own home town is right up my alley!
Click picture to view article:

Crazy article.. A "demented" woman by the name of Menthol Sweeney sets fire to a barn on what is now Conyers Farms in backcountry Greenwich, CT.

Afterwards I googled Converse Farm too see what came of it:

MRS. SWEENEY IN SANITARIUM; Denies Setting Fire to Converse's Barn -- Believed to Be Insane.
STAMFORD, Conn., Nov. 29. -- Araminta Sweeney, who was suspected of incendiarism when the $10,000 burn on Conyer's Manor, the estate of E.C. Converse, the steel magnate, in Greenwich, was destroyed by fire last Wednesday night, has been committed temporarily to a sanitarium by Judge Charles D. Lockwood in this place.

SAYS THREAT UPSET HIS NIECE'S MIND; Miss Sweeney's Mental..
STAMFORD, Conn., Dec. 2. -- The acute mental condition of Araminta Sweeney, the woman accused of writing anonymous letters and making threats against Mr. and Mrs. E.C. Converse, is due largely to an anonymous letter which she herself received last January, according to Charles Brown, her uncle by marriage.

GREENWICH RECORDS BIG REAL ESTATE DEAL (Pay Article)
GREENWICH Conn June 10AP Fourteen hundred acres of the Converse Farm one of the largest estates in the town of Greenwich

Converse Farm Sold For Building Lots, Brings $1,400,000 (Pay Article)


"Banksville was named after Samuel Banks, who settled on the upper reaches of the Mianus River in the northeast comer of Greenwich in 1700. For the next 200 years it was a quiet farming community, but in 1904 Edmund Converse assembled more than 1,000 acres to create Greenwich's greatest estate, with forty buildings and a staff of 200. Farming operations continued up until 1960. It then lay fallow for twenty years when it was finally sold to the Conyers Farm Partnership and its 1,468 acres subdivided into sixty lots. Conyers Farm is the home of many well-known residents who can afford its magnificent ten -acre lots. It is also the locale for the Greenwich Polo Club where many town residents go to enjoy the polo games on a Sunday afternoon. (As an interesting sidelight, Conyers Farm would not exist nor would most of backcountry Greenwich be the same, had a proposal in 1945 to locate the headquarters of the United Nations here not been defeated by an alarmed group of Greenwich citizens.)

Banksville's small business center near the New York State line is reminiscent of a simpler time. Many of its residents refer to Banksville as the land that time has forgotten. "

Homicides of Champaben Patel - Anita Patel - March 1996 - Windsor

On March 21,1996, the bodies of Champaben Patel and her daughter Anita were found in their family home in Windsor. Champaben Patel had been strangled and her body burned. Anita had been stabbed and her body burned.

In March 2006, Governor M. Jodi Rell authorized a $50,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the slayings.

Investigators believe Champaben Patel was killed first, in the bedroom of her home. They further suspect that Anita Patel and her two children arrived at the house while the attack was occurring, and that Anita told the children, then ages 3 and 5, to leave the house.

The children ran from the house and were found by a woman walking to her mailbox, who called the police.

Anita Patel was stabbed in the kitchen of the house. Gasoline was poured around her body and set afire. Although she had been stabbed a total of 14 times, an autopsy determined that she died of smoke inhalation.

The case is being investigated by the Cold Case Unit of the Chief State's Attorney's Office. Connecticut investigators are consulting with the Vidocq Society, a group of forensic experts who contribute their time and expertise in unsolved cases.

Follow this link to e-mail the Cold Case Unit of the Chief State's Attorney's Office with information or a tip about the case of Champaben Patel and Anita Patel or call the tip line at 860-548-0606 or toll-free at 1-866-623-8058. All calls and e-mails will be kept confidential.

Dr. William Petit Won't Testify at Sentencing of Family's Killer

(CNN) -- A Connecticut man whose wife and two daughters were murdered in a 2007 home invasion will not testify at the sentencing of the convicted killer, he said Friday.

Dr. William Petit has "regretfully decided" against testifying because he said Connecticut's law on victim impact statements is unclear and could provide convicts with grounds to appeal their sentences.

Announcing his decision in a statement Friday, Petit urged Connecticut's General Assembly to "promptly amend the law to guarantee ... the right of surviving family members of capital murder victims to present victim impact statements" at sentencing.

On Tuesday, a jury convicted 47-year-old Steven Hayes of capital murder in the deaths of Petit's family members. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

On Friday, Petit said he would have preferred to make a statement at Hayes' sentencing.

"Unfortunately, however, our General Assembly has failed to enact an appropriately clear law to allow a victim like me the right to make a statement on behalf of myself and my family members during the course of a capital sentencing trial," his statement said.

"This lack of clarity in the law is a crippling disincentive to surviving family members of victims in capital murder cases to make a statement," Petit continued, because such statements could be construed to violate state law, giving a convict "a basis for appeal and possibly even a new sentencing trial."

Petit said Friday that the law fails to specify who may offer a victim impact statement or when the statement could be introduced.

"Does it permit the victim himself to read the statement or does its passive-voice phrasing require that a prosecutor or other court official read the statement?" he asked.

"More significantly, does it allow the statement to be read prior to the jury's decision on what sentence to impose or should the statement be read as a pointless formality after the jury has already decided what sentence to impose?"

Hayes was found guilty of 16 of the 17 charges against him in connection with the deaths of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her two daughters, including nine counts of murder and capital murder and four counts of kidnapping. The jurors acquitted him of an arson charge in the burning of the family's home.

The killings took place in the New Haven suburb of Cheshire early on July 23, 2007.

Petit's and his wife's home was invaded in the middle of the night by Hayes and another man, Joshua Komisarjevsky, prosecutors say. Komisarjevsky will be tried separately.

"There is some relief, but my family is still gone," Petit told reporters after Tuesday's verdict. "It doesn't bring them back. It doesn't bring back the home that we had."

At the penalty phase, jurors will determine whether the mitigating evidence the defense is expected to present will outweigh the aggravating factors in favor of the death penalty. Judge Jon Blue set the penalty phase to begin October 18.

On Friday, Petit said that a victim impact statement should be a part of that process.

"Just as a capital murderer is permitted to seek to 'humanize' himself by presenting all manner of mitigating evidence about his own background and circumstances, the prosecution should also be permitted equally to 'humanize' the lives of a defendant's victims," his statement said.

During the trial, Jeremiah Krob, a Connecticut prison officer, testified he overheard Hayes confess to another inmate that he killed Jennifer Hawke-Petit.

Connecticut State Police Detective Anthony Buglione, who interviewed Hayes after the crime, has testified that the duo beat Petit bloody and left him in the basement.

According to the testimony, the two men then went upstairs and found Hawke-Petit and 11-year-old Michaela Petit asleep in the master bedroom. After tying Hawke-Petit to her bed, they led the girl to her room, tied her to her bed and put a pillowcase over her head, Hayes told Buglione.

They then found 17-year-old Hayley Petit in her room and did the same, he said.

After finding evidence of a bank account containing $20,000 to $30,000, they decided to have the mother go to the bank in the morning and withdraw money from her account, Buglione testified.

Hayes is accused of taking Hawke-Petit to the bank while Komisarjevsky allegedly stayed behind. When Hayes and Hawke-Petit returned with the money, the two men allegedly set the home on fire and fled.

Inside the home, authorities said, Hawke-Petit, 48, was found raped and strangled. Her two daughters, one of whom had been sexually assaulted, died of smoke inhalation. Petit, the sole survivor, escaped to a neighbor's home.

Burn Mother F*cker, Burn! - Hayes Convicted in Deadly Cheshire Home Invasion

NEW HAVEN (AP) - A paroled burglar was convicted Tuesday of killing a mother and her two daughters in a 2007 home invasion in an affluent Connecticut town and now could be sentenced to death.

Steven Hayes was convicted of capital felony and three counts of murder by a jury that heard eight days of gruesome testimony about the July 2007 attacks on Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughters, 17-year-old Hayley and 11-year-old Michaela.

The verdict triggers a second phase of the trial, in which the same jurors will decide if Hayes should be executed or face life in prison. Hayes was convicted of 16 counts and acquitted of a single count - arson.

Hayes' defense admitted to his involvement in the fatal home invasion but blamed his co-defendant, Joshua Komisarjevsky, for being the aggressor. Komisarjevsky faces trial next year.

Komisarjevsky spotted the mother and her two daughters at a supermarket, followed them to their Cheshire home, then returned later with Hayes, authorities say.

The men broke into the Petit house in the New Haven suburb of Cheshire, beat the girl's father with a baseball bat and forced Hawke-Petit to withdraw money from a bank before raping and strangling her, according to testimony. The men, both paroled burglars who met at a halfway house, tied the girls to their beds, put pillow cases over their heads and poured gas on or around them before setting the house on fire, authorities say.

The girls died of smoke inhalation. Authorities say the men were caught fleeing the scene.

Hayes' attorneys conceded most of the evidence on the first day and spent much of the trial focusing on Komisarjevsky's role. They pointed to graphic photos of Michaela found on Komisarjevsky's cell phone, and Hayes' attorney, Tom Ullmann, said Komisarjevsky escalated the violence at every critical point, starting with Dr. Petit's beating.

Prosecutors rejected that argument, saying the two men were equally responsible for the crime.

Barber Gets Life Sentence for Torching Homeless Man

It's unbelievable to me that anyone can do that to another person.. They should pour gasoline and light him on fire just the same as punishment- skip past our spending tax dollars on him sitting around jail the next 50 years.


LOS ANGELES -- A former barber has been sentenced to life in prison without parole for killing a mentally ill homeless man by dousing him with gasoline and setting him on fire with a road flare in the Mid-Wilshire area of Los Angeles.

Ben Matthew Martin, 31, pleaded guilty last month to the October 2008 killing of John Robert McGraham, 55, in the 3500 block of West Third Street.

Martin sat with his head bowed during Wednesday's half-hour sentencing hearing in downtown L.A.

"My brother had a life -- he was a human being," Susanne McGraham Paisley, the victim's sister, told the court through sobs. "Even in a state of homelessness, he managed to touch so many lives."

McGraham was mentally ill and lived on the streets, where he was known to locals as a sweet, harmless person. He once worked as a bellman at the Ambassador Hotel, but suffered from depression. Family members repeatedly tried to get him treatment over the years, but were unsuccessful.

Martin was a neighborhood barber who apparently had a grudge against the homeless. He was arrested in January 2009 in Rancho Mirage.

Martin reportedly disliked homeless people lingering near the barber shop where he worked. A co-worker later told police he had seen Martin shout at the homeless to move away from the shop, sometimes striking out at them.

A customer said that he saw Martin on a separate occasion chasing McGraham down 3rd Street, hitting him with a bag of towels and kicking him in the back. The barber yelled, "I don't want to see you around here again," according to the customer.

When the manager of the barber shop learned of the attack, Martin was fired. Three months later, prosecutors said, Martin returned to the area with revenge on his mind.

Carrying a bucket of gasoline and an emergency road flare, he found McGraham standing in the driveway of a parking lot. Martin soaked the homeless man with the gasoline, prosecutors said, then lighted the flare and set him on fire.

As Martin fled, passersby desperately tried to douse the flames, but McGraham, who suffered burns over 90-percent of his body, was burned alive.

Burned Body in Trash Identified as Playboy Model

(CNN) -- Paula Sladewski, a 26-year-old who once modeled for Playboy, was identified Wednesday by Miami police as the person found dead and "burned beyond recognition" in a trash bin on Sunday.
Now, police are asking for the public's help to put her killer behind bars. Whoever the murderer is, police said, they are nothing short of a "monster."

"It's so horrific. They'd have to be a monster. It's a dastardly act," North Miami police spokesman Lt. Neal Cuevas told CNN. "It's the most heinous thing that a person can do to another person."

Sladewski's body was found Sunday night after firefighters extinguished flames coming from a large trash bin near a propane business.

When they put out the fire, they saw a body. But there was barely any way to identify it.

"It was just total, total, disfigurement," Cuevas told CNN. "You couldn't even tell that it was a woman or a man or even what race."

Cuevas, who was in the area when the call came in, said the trash bin and body were still smoldering when he arrived. Police were able to identify the body through dental records late Tuesday night, he said.

Police are trying to figure out how a model from Michigan, who appeared in a 2003 Playboy video, ended up burned beyond recognition inside the trash bin -- and who put her there.

"This was a brutal, horrible, disgusting murder, and this monster or these monsters need to be brought to justice," Cuevas said.

The only timeline police have comes from Sladewski's boyfriend, who was vacationing with her. Because he was the last one to see her, police are considering him a person of interest, but he has not been named as a suspect.

Police said they would consider whoever was the last known person to see her alive a person of interest. Right now, they have no suspects, Cuevas said.

The boyfriend is "devastated and traumatized" by news of the death, said his attorney, Marc Beginin.

"He desperately wants this crime solved and anybody involved brought to justice," Beginin said.

The boyfriend, whom police did not identify, reported Sladewski missing to police and also tried to find her by calling hospitals and jails, interviewing people and hiring a private investigator, Beginin said. The boyfriend also has met with investigators for 12 hours, the attorney said.

"The Miami police are pursuing all leads and doing their jobs. However, ultimately, he doesn't need to be a person of interest," he said.

The couple arrived in Miami on Thursday to ring in the new year by watching Lady Gaga perform, police said.

Cuevas told CNN that Sladewski's boyfriend said they went to Club Space on Saturday and remained until about 7 a.m. Sunday, when they got into an argument.

When he was thrown out of the club after the altercation, Sladewski decided to stay, her boyfriend told police.

That was the last time her boyfriend saw her, according to police. Cuevas said when Sladewski did not return to their hotel by Monday, her boyfriend called police and filed a missing person report.

Sladewski's sister, Kelly Farris, was battling back tears at a news conference Wednesday night. She said her sister had been dating the man for about two years, and he had called her Monday to say she was missing.

Farris said she had last seen her sister, who lived in Michigan and California, at Christmas.

"She loved life, she was full of life," Farris said, beginning to sob. "She went on a lot of vacations. She was a great person."

Farris said her family was devastated by the news of Sladewski's death, especially given the nature of how she was found.

"I couldn't imagine anything like this happening, you know," Farris said. "We can't even give her an open casket. We can't even see her again."

Farris pleaded with anyone who saw her sister at the club or afterward to contact police.

"She did not deserve to die in this way," she said.

And until her sister's killer is found, Farris said she can't imagine what she will do.

"I can't see myself going back to work," Farris said. "I can't see myself living a normal life until I know whoever did this pays for it."

Burn This Mother DOWN!

BOSTON -- A Newbury homeowner was charged Thursday with arson after her $1.4 million house went up in flames.

Nancy Moore, 65, was arraigned Thursday afternoon after her 5,700-square-foot home at 108 Pine Island Road caught fire Wednesday night. Moore was sent to a substance abuse facility after her arraignment.

A prosecutor told the court that she allegedly used gas-soaked rags to start the fire, and she parked her car in the driveway to block emergency vehicles from responding to the blaze.

"She had burned the house down -- set the house on fire by lighting gas-soaked rags," prosecutor Maura Bailey said. "That's what she told them, 'because she said she was sick of this house.'"

The fire that started at about 7 p.m. was first spotted by a neighbor, who saw smoke coming out of the roof. Fire officials said it appeared the blaze started in the kitchen.

"She had parked her vehicle in the narrow drive leading to the house and police had to move it. Inside they noticed valuables -- including pictures of her children and jewelry," Bailey said.

Court documents list Moore as divorced from her ex-husband Harrington Moore. The house has been on the market for more than a year, and the price was recently lowered to $1.45 million.

Documents Detail Cheshire Home Invasion & Update

This broke my heart when it happened and remembered just now I need to save this through my blog..

NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- The suspects in a deadly home invasion in Cheshire poured gasoline on and around a mother and two daughters, then set their house on fire and fled, according to search warrants released by a judge Tuesday.

The 11 heavily edited warrants, that span more than 60 pages, provide the first official version of the events of July 23. Jennifer Hawke-Petit, and her daughters, Hayley, 17, and Michaela, 11, were killed. Hawke-Petit's husband, Dr. William Petit, was badly beaten but escaped.

The search warrants, obtained by Eyewitness News at the New Haven County Courthouse, indicate detectives found nylon tape marks on Jennifer Hawke-Petit's neck and rope around her ankles. Her daughters' wrists and ankles were also bound, according to the documents, and one daughter had her upper body tied to her bed posts.

All three women had signs of accelerants on or near them, and one of the women were completely doused. The documents indicate investigators found three partially melted plastic gallon containers inside the house.

"One of the deceased was burned beyond recognition, with indications that an accelerant was liberally poured on her," investigators wrote in a search warrant. "The remaining two victims appeared to have some indication of accelerant being poured onto or in close proximity to them, but not to the same degree as the other victim."

Hawke-Petit was strangled and the two girls died of smoke inhalation, according to the medical examiner.

Paroled burglars Joshua Komisarjevsky, 27, of Cheshire, and Steven Hayes, 44, of Winsted, both face capital felony and multiple murder, kidnapping, sexual assault and arson charges in connection with the killings.

They are scheduled to appear Nov. 6 in Superior Court for probable cause hearings.

The documents also contain detectives' requests for the DNA of Komisarjevsky and Hayes, in addition to lab testing of their clothes for blood, semen or other evidence.

An attorney for The Hartford Courant argued last month for the release of the documents. Prosecutors did not object to unsealing the warrants, but defense attorneys said coverage of their contents would make it difficult to find impartial jurors for their client's trials.

Last week, Superior Court Judge Richard Damiani agreed to release edited versions of the warrants. Defense attorneys did not appeal.

"I don't think there is anything new that hasn't been previously disclosed," said Thomas Ullmann, the public defender representing Hayes. He declined further comment.

Police say Komisarjevsky and Hayes entered the home about 3 a.m. July 23, planning to burglarize it. When they found the family home, they beat Dr. Petit, then tied up his wife and daughters.

Authorities were tipped off that the family was in danger by employees at a local bank when one of the suspects forced Hawke-Petit to make a withdrawal around 9:30 a.m. Bank employees became suspicious and called police, who drove to the Petit home.

The suspects were caught in the family's car after ramming several cruisers as they fled the burning home, which they allegedly torched to cover their tracks. Dr. Petit escaped to a neighbor's house.

Police searched a minivan registered to Komisarjevsky's mother, a Chevrolet Venture, and found a package for a BB gun, duct tape, a Lowe's Home Improvement store receipt, flexible ties and different types of gloves, according to the warrants.

In a GMC Sierra pickup truck, police said they found Dr. Petit's wallet, his wife's wallet, two pearl necklaces and a red, blood-like stain. Detectives also described finding a purple knapsack belonging to Hayes that has the initials "HAP."

Video: Judge Releases Cheshire Search Warrants

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Suspect Was 'Depressed'

CHESHIRE - In the days before being charged with committing a brutal triple murder in Cheshire, Joshua Komisarjevsky was depressed over the loss of his teenage girlfriend and struggling financially because of mounting costs related to his 5-year-old child, a close friend said Friday.

But he also was planning to renovate his parents' home and had just returned from a trip to The Home Depot when the friend visited him about a week ago at his home, less than 2 miles from where the killings occurred.

"We went for a walk in a park near his parents' house, with his kid,'' said the friend, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "He definitely was depressed about his girlfriend moving down South.''

The friend, a woman from Bristol, speculated that Komisarjevsky's depression might have led him back to using illegal drugs.

"But there's nothing about him that could ever make me think he'd do something as awful as this,'' she said.

The woman also shared with The Courant a letter Komisarjevsky wrote to her in late 2005, while he was in prison on burglary charges. In the letter, he lamented about not being able to hold his child.

Komisarjevsky, 26, and Steven Hayes, 44 of Winsted, are being held on $15 million bail each, and each is charged with six counts of capital felony. The men are accused of breaking into the Sorghum Mill Drive home of Dr. William Petit on Monday, beating him with a baseball bat, raping his wife and at least one child and then lighting the house on fire.

Jennifer Hawke-Petit, 48, and daughters Hayley, 17, and Michaela, 11, were killed. The mother was strangled and the two girls died of smoke inhalation, tied to their beds. Charges filed by New Haven State's Attorney Michael Dearington indicate that Komisarjevsky raped the younger child.

Police sources said that they were unsure whether the men were intoxicated or on drugs the night of the killings. Authorities are awaiting toxicology test results from the state laboratory.

The Bristol woman met Komisarjevsky through Jennifer Norton, the mother of his child, Jayda, and corresponded with him while he was in prison.

The last letter she received was written on Nov. 28, 2005. In it, he responded to several questions she asked him about what it was like to be a parent while in prison. In the four-page letter, Komisarjevsky wrote lucidly about prison conditions and the difficulty of having a young child while in prison.

"Some lowly inmates in here in conjunction with their child's caregiver have used their children to smuggle drugs into prison which has in-turn made it very difficult for those of us who legitimately wish to hold and spend time with our children,'' Komisarjevsky wrote.

Komisarjevsky's daughter was born a month after he was sentenced to nine years in prison for a string of burglaries in Cheshire and the Bristol area.

"My daughter knows who I am and knows the sound of my voice. She calls me daddy and tells me she loves me but I haven't seen her for awhile. Unfortunately my incarceration has disallowed me to be actively involved in the first years of her life when attachment and the forming of emotional bonds are most prevalent,'' he wrote.

He also complained about how difficult it is providing for a child while in prison.

"I wish nothing but the very best for my daughter and it is painful not to be able to provide for her,'' Komisarjevsky wrote.

Komisarjevsky was transferred to a Hartford halfway house about six months after writing the letter. He met Hayes at the facility.

The Hayes family issued their first statement Friday, which read, in part:

"Each of us affected by this devastation will feel the impact forever. Words do not relieve the suffering of everyone affected by this tragedy. At 3 a.m. Monday, July 23, 2007, the lives of many families changed forever. Three families are suffering and the pain is too much to bear for anyone affected by this unforgivable act. Everyone's heart aches today and that pain will never go away.''

In a statement released this week, Chris Komisarjevsky, the uncle of Joshua Komisarjevsky, said, "The crime and the murder of members of the Petit family in Cheshire are horrible ... more than anyone can imagine. It was a monstrous, deranged act, beyond comprehension.

Woman Charged With Murder, Arson In Husband's Death

MORGANTOWN, Ind. -- A woman was charged with murder, arson and burglary in the June 19 slaying of her husband in rural Brown County.

According to a probable cause affidavit, Dottie Andrews, 40, told Indiana State Police Detective Jeff Deckard that she and her husband, Robert Andrews, 44, were estranged.

Police said they found a notebook in Dottie Andrews' SUV that claimed her husband had been abusive -- beating and sexually assaulting her.

"I will see you in hell," part of the note read.

Police said that Dottie Andrews told them she shot her husband and his dog just before 3 a.m. and intended to kill herself, but the gun jammed.

Investigators said she started a fire, was overcome by flames and went to the back yard to call 911.

Dottie's family members told police that she had obtained a protective order that prohibited Robert from contacting her, but that he did so anyway by sending threatening messages two or three times a day.

Dottie Andrews remained hospitalized Tuesday in police custody in Indianapolis.

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June 19, 2009: Man, Dog Found Shot To Death After House Fire

Man Confesses to Burning Roommates Over 3 Days

TUCSON, AZ - A man confesses to Sheriff's deputies that he murdered his roommates and burned their bodies over the course of three days, says Pima County Sheriff's Office.

This comes one day after PSCO found two burned bodies in the front yard where two people were reported missing by their families two weeks ago.

Michael Carlson has confessed to the murder of Kenneth Alliman and Rebecca Lofton, say Sheriff's deputies. In his confession, Carlson stated that he shot and killed the pair with a sawed of shotgun while they were in his Cadillac. Carlson confessed that he "burned them over a period of three days, leaving and returning to disperse the remains," says the search warrant in the case.

He then attempted to clean the blood out of his car and hide the murder weapon in an RV, says the confession.

The story began weeks ago when Alliman and Lofton were reported missing by their families. They had recently allowed Carlson to move into their home on Tucson's West side near Trico Road.

Not long after the pair was reported missing, in a totally unrelated case, Carlson was stopped for driving a stolen vehicle on May 31st. When deputies informed him his vehicle was stolen, he attempted to flee the scene. Then when his vehicle became inoperable, he fled on foot and successfully evaded deputies.

At that time, deputies searched his left-behind vehicle and noticed signs that the vehicle may have been the scene of the crime.

16 days later, Carlson was apprehended and taken into custody. He then confessed to killing his sister back in 2003, and the murders of Alliman and Lofton, says PCSO.

Monday night, PCSO searched the property of the missing pair and discovered burned fragments in the front yard. The medical examiners office has confirmed that the remains are the bodies of two individuals.

"We do believe the remains are the individuals missing from the residence," says Pima County Sheriff's Deputy Dawn Barkman.

The remains are currently undergoing testing to determine if they are the missing pair.

Mother Charged With Killing Burned Child

(Memphis, TN) A Memphis woman has been charged with killing her 11-month-old son by not caring for him properly.

Karen Kirkwood is charged with First Degree Murder and two counts of Aggravated Child Abuse.

In March, Kirkwood's son, Christopher, was severely burned in what was deemed a suspicious fire.

Investigators say Kirkwood did not immediately report the 2nd and 3rd degree burns that covered 30% of the child's body.

Christopher Kirkwood was released into his mother's care April 16 from Le Bonheur Children's Medical Center where his mother was trained how to care for him.

Hospital administrators taught Kirkwood how to care for her son's wounds as well as his tracheal tube.

Monday, May 25, Christopher Kirkwood was found dead in his mother's home. An autopsy showed the child's tracheal tube was, "...completely clogged, obstructing the child's airway."

Police say Karen Kirkwood left Christopher unattended for long periods of time and that she, "...opted to disregard the care orders of the doctors and the training she received..."

It was also learned Kirkwood never used a monitor given to her to track her son's breathing and heart rate, something that would have alerted her to the blocked tracheal tube.

The child's grandmother said he was burned by a space heater. The woman said the family was in the process of moving so he was placed on a pile of clothes to sleep. Because the home's heater did not work, a space heater was put next to the clothing and a fire started.

Such a Horrible Way To Leave- Martha Mansfield

On November 30, 1923, while working on the film The Warrens of Virginia, Mansfield was severely burned when a match, tossed by a cast member, ignited her Civil War costume of hoopskirts and flimsy ruffles. Mansfield was playing the role of Agatha Warren, and had just finished her scenes and retired to a car, when her clothing burst into flames. Her neck and face were saved when leading man, Wilfred Lytell, threw his heavy overcoat over her. The chauffeur of Mansfield's car was burned badly on his hands while trying to remove the burning clothing from the actress. The fire was put out but she sustained substantial burns to her body.

She was rushed to a hospital where she died in less than twenty-four hours. Mansfield was 24 years old.

Accompanied by actor Phillip Shorey, Mansfield's body was flown to her home in New York City. Her mother resided there at 142 West Fifty-seventh Street. She was interred at the Woodlawn Cemetery, Bronx, New York, United States.

Mom Arrested After Performing Voodoo Fire On Daughter

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NEW YORK (WPIX) - A Queen's mom is accused of setting her six-year-old daughter on fire in a bizarre voodoo ritual that left the girl severely burned, authorities said.

Marie Lauradin, 29, a Haitian immigrant, apparently ignored little Frantzcia Saintil's screams as flames engulfed her body during the Feb 4. ritual, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said. Frantizcia's grandmother, 70-year-old Sylvenie Thessier, reportedly came to her aide and extinguished the flames.

Instead of taking Frantzcia to the hospital, prosecutors say the pair, instead, sent the girl to bed, where she remained for a day before relatives begged them to take the girl to the hospital.

According to court papers, when Lauradin finally sought medical assistance for her daughter, doctors determined Frantzcia had suffered second and third-degree burns covering 25% of her body, including her face torso and legs.

Lauradin, who has been in the U.S for less than a year, was charged in Queens Criminal Court with assault and endangering the welfare of a child. If convicted, she faces up to 25 years behind bars.

According to police, Lauradin sprayed a circle of rum on the floor around her daughter and lit it on fire. She then poured some alcohol on the girl's head and pushed her into the ring of flames.

Initially, Lauradin reportedly told police she was boiling rice in a pot and accidentally spilled it on her daughter.

Her attorney Jeff Cohen said she is completely innocent of the allegations.

"This is my client's only child," Cohen told the New York Daily News. "My client would not hurt her."

Thessier is facing charges of reckless endangerment and endangering the welfare of a child. She faces up to seven years in jail.