Fire Kills 1, Badly Burns Another In Extreme Hoarding Intervention Gone Awry

GREENWICH, Conn. (CBSNewYork) — An extreme hoarding situation ended in extreme sadness on Tuesday. It may have been a final act of defiance that killed a man and seriously injured his sick mother.

The run-down home has been an eyesore for years, attracting complaints from neighbors and the city of Greenwich. Now, the woman who owns it is badly burned and her 42-year-old son is dead, CBS 2’s Lou Young reported.

The fire started inside a home jammed with stacks of personal possessions — a hoarder’s den turned death trap.

“Smoke pouring out of the house and we said there’s someone still inside, and about five or six minutes later they took the second person out in an ambulance over there,” neighbor Richard Meehan said.

“The fire department has determined it was intentionally set,” Greenwich Police Lt. Craig Gray said.

An intervention was apparently already underway in connection with the clutter inside.  A dumpster on site was supposed to be used to house the many belongings the occupants had amassed. The fire, apparently set by the son, broke out just hours before state social workers were supposed to arrive, police said.

“The lady used to work for the Board of Education in Greenwich and then she got sick and basically her son was taking care of her.

It was a slow decline,” neighbor John Pardo said.

The man of the house — a retired Greenwich cop — died in the 1980s. Things got especially bad in the past five years, neighbors said, but the occupants, Dean Verboven and his 69-year-old mother, Barbara, were well-liked.

“I know this boy since he was 8 years old and they are … they are sweet people, nice people,” Gladys Pardo said.

But he is now dead and she is in critical condition, getting treated at Bridgeport Medical Center for severe burns.

One neighbor said Barbara Verboven spent almost all her time in a single room of the house, eating and sleeping in a room with a television on 24 hours a day.

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.

Wilton Man Accused of Killing Father

WILTON -- A 22-year-old Wilton man who told police he was hearing voices, was arraigned in Norwalk Friday morning for the alleged murder of his 73-year-old father.

Aaron Ramsey of 125 Signal Hill Road allegedly punched, kicked and stabbed his father, Edward Ramsey Thursday afternoon before running through the woods to escape from aliens, he told police.
Judge Bruce Hudock maintained Aaron Ramsey's bond at $1 million during an arraignment at state Superior Court in Norwalk. Ramsey appeared at the Norwalk courthouse in a blue paper jumpsuit and socks, with his hands and feet shackled. He held his head down during the brief hearing and did not speak, but began to tear up just before being led out of court by judicial marshals.

His case was transferred to Stamford where more serious cases are heard and is scheduled for his first appearance there on May 15.

Wilton police were first alerted at 3:25 p.m. Thursday when they received a report of a man in his 20s with short brown hair trying to break into a car on Cheese Spring Road. Minutes later, police received another 911 call reporting that a man matching the earlier description ran into a house on Cheese Spring Road yelling that people were chasing him. The man then laid down on the living room floor and appeared to go to sleep.

When police arrived, they found Ramsey lying on the floor semi-conscious and acting irrationally and incoherent, according to the arrest warrant. Police called paramedics who treated him, but only found minor cuts despite blood on his T-shirt, jeans and sneakers.

About 70 minutes after the burglary call, Ramsey's mother SuAnne Fehr-Ramsey called 911. When police got there they found her standing in the yard calling for Aaron. She told police that her husband was in the house bleeding and needed help.

Police found Edward Ramsey lying on a floor of a bedroom with severe traumatic injuries to his face and upper body and police noted that he was "obviously dead," in the four page arrest affidavit. A check of his vital signs determined there was no pulse and that there was no blood coming from several stab wounds to his chest, the affidavit said. He also had a "significant" injury to the left side of his head.

A ratcheting socket wrench was found on the left side of Ramsey's body and a single set of bloody footprints consistent with the sneakers Aaron Ramsey had worn to Cheese Spring Road led toward the door.

Police quickly connected Aaron Ramsey to the scene when an officer recognized him in a family photo in the kitchen of the house.

During an interview with investigators at Norwalk Hospital about two hours after Ramsey's body was found, Aaron told police that he heard voices telling him that he needed to find out who "the fakers and manipulators are" and that he had been "tasked to put people on trial."

He said he had confronted his father in his bedroom Thursday afternoon and asked him a question. Ramsey said he felt his father was lying and told him to get out of the house. When his father refused, he struck him with his right wrist, then he told police he tried to strike him with a "death blow," as he made a karate chop motion, the affidavit said.

Ramsey told police his father, a former pilot for American Airlines, never fought back.
Ramsey then picked up a bench in the bedroom and struck his father with it. While his father was knocked to the floor, Ramsey went to the kitchen to retrieve "a perfect sharp knife."
He said he then went to the bedroom and attempted to slit his father's throat, but his hand slipped off the handle due to blood and sweat. He then proceeded to stab his father in the stomach, groin, head and heart, police said.

Ramsey said he heard voices telling him to prevent his father from getting back up because "he has magic powers and can heal himself." He then told police that he stomped his father's entire body and "beat him to a pulp," the affidavit said.

Ramsey said the voices then told him "they're coming for you, you gotta run."

When police asked who was coming, Ramsey responded "aliens." He said he ran through the woods and used his mind to open a sliding glass door of a house -- evidently the one that he broke into on Cheese Spring Road -- the affidavit said.

Ramsey's public defender James Lamontagne called the incident a "true tragedy," and asked the judge that Ramsey be given mental health evaluation and treatment, which was granted.
Police said no other family members were home at the time.

The geodesic domed house is located at the end of a long driveway in a wooded area. According to land records, Edward Ramsey built the home in 1974 on the 4.5-acre wooded lot.

Neighbors in this affluent neighborhood keep to themselves. One woman who recently moved to the neighborhood said she'd recently seen the wife walking her dog.

During a morning press conference, Wilton police Chief Michael Lombardo said officers have responded to calls at the Ramsey house in the past, but would not elaborate on the nature of the calls.
During her emotional 911 call to police, SuAnne Fehr-Ramsey told police that her son had been acting strangely for more than a week and that he was "either on drugs or a little psychotic."
Ramsey is a 2008 graduate of Wilton High School where he played on the varsity football team as a place kicker.

Wilton High School Principal Robert O'Donnell said Ramsey was good student, engaged in athletics and had good friends. He said counselors were made available at the school Friday for any students who wanted to talk about the incident.

"We're a very tight-knit high school and local community," O'Donnell said.  "Our primary concern right now is with and for the Ramsey family at this very difficult time."

Ramsey has two prior convictions. He was arrested in November 2009 for possession of less than four ounces of marijuana and was found guilty. He paid a $250 fine.

In November 2011, he was arrested for driving under the influence and pleaded guilty.
Wilton police detectives and investigators from the State Police major crime squad worked throughout the night, poring over the crime scene.

It is the first murder in Wilton since the June 2008 death of 13-year-old Nicholas Parisot. Parisot died while riding his motorcycle off-road in North Wilton and struck an elevated object that police said appeared to have been placed there intentionally.

No arrest was ever made in the Parisot case.

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I believe him when he says aliens are coming for him... Have you seen that house? Lol.  Not to be too insensitive.. I mean, I do feel horrible for the family.  What a tragedy. And that kid is handsome, too.  What a shame.

Wilton Man Charged with Killing Father with a Screwdriver

(05/04/12) WILTON - Wilton police say they have arrested a man who has confessed to killing his father with a screwdriver last night.

Authorities say 22-year-old Aaron Ramsey repeatedly beat his father, then stabbed him several times before fleeing his Signal Hill Road home. They say he then entered a house on nearby Cheese Spring Road and refused to leave unless paramedics took him to the hospital.

The victim, 73-year-old Ed Ramsey, was found dead when police arrived.

Ramsey has been charged with murder and was arraigned today in Norwalk. Court documents indicate he heard voices in his head that told him to "put people on trial" and that he stabbed his father with a knife after he was already dead.

Police say Ramsey had previously been arrested for DUI and possession of marijuana.
He is being held on bond and has been ordered to undergo a psychological evaluation.