The victims: Lomer (dressed as Santa Claus) and Pauline Johnson, with grandchildren Lily, Grace and Sarah
The grieving woman whose three daughters and parents died in a Christmas Day fire that ravaged her home tried to kill herself last week. A friend told WCBS 2 that Madonna Badger "is now in a safe place, surrounded by family and long-time friends.”
Badger had been in the middle of extensive renovations of her three-story Victorian when a fire broke out in the Stamford, Connecticut home. While Badger survived along with her boyfriend Michael Borcina, the contractor overseeing the work, her young daughters—7-year-old twins and their 9-year-old sister—and parents were killed in the massive blaze. Investigators say that Borcina emptied still-smoldering embers from a fire into a bag and placed the bag in the mudroom or in a trash enclosure; later, the embers triggered fire. (The embers may have been removed so the girls would not worry about Santa Claus being injured when coming down the chimney.) By the time firefighters were called to the house, they could only rescue Badger and Borcina. Later, Stamford's Buildings Department ordered the home to be razed, because it was structurally unsound.
A relative of Madonna Badger told the Daily News, "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.” During her eulogy for her young daughters, Badger said, "Our girls, my little girls, are not gone from us entirely, because my girls are in my heart. They’re right here, and this is where they live now." The relative also said, "She seemed to be coping better at the funeral, better than I ever could... But once all of that is gone and you’re left to face what’s happened, it’s terrible."
The criminal investigation has been underway, with authorities re-interviewing Badger and Borcina. According to WCBS 2, "Several construction workers told investigators the alarms and extinguishers were taken out of the house and stored in the garage, as painters began working on the interior." Stamford officials have noted that it did not seem like there were any working smoke detectors in the home at the time of the fire.
WCBS 2 also reports that Badger's ex-husband Matthew Badger has hired private investigators; a P.I. not associated with the investigation said, "A private investigation firm can really focus and narrow the scope of their investigation and stay full-time on it." Borcina's license to do renovation work in Connecticut had expired 12 years ago and his license to do work in NY expired in 2010.
