STAMFORD, Conn. — Fire swept through an advertising executive’s Victorian home along the Connecticut shoreline, killing her three children and her parents.
Madonna Badger and a male acquaintance were able to escape from the house as it was engulfed by flames on Christmas morning, Stamford police Sgt. Paul Guzda said. But Badger’s three daughters — a 10-year-old and 7-year-old twins — died in the fire, Guzda said.
He said Badger’s parents, who were visiting for the holiday, also died in the blaze.
Neighbors said they awoke to the sound of screaming shortly before 5 a.m. and rushed outside to help, but they could only watch in horror as flames devoured the grand home and the shocked, injured survivors were led away from the house.
Badger, an ad executive in the fashion industry, is the founder of New York City-based Badger & Winters Group. A supervisor at Stamford Hospital said she was treated and discharged by Sunday evening.
Stamford fire chief Antonio Conte said Monday that the $1.7 million house had been razed on the order of the building department.
Police: Utah mom, son rescued after Facebook post
SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah woman used Facebook to get help after she and her 17-month-old son were held hostage at a residence for nearly five days, police said.
Police Sgt. Jon Arnold said the woman hid in a closet with a laptop to post her plea for help on the social networking website, saying she and her son would be “dead by morning” if they were not rescued.
The post prompted someone to call police, who went to the home to check on the woman’s welfare.
Police arrested Troy Reed Critchfield, 33, and booked him into jail Saturday for investigation of aggravated kidnapping, forcible sodomy, aggravated assault, domestic violence, child abuse, animal cruelty and other charges.
U.S. pledges help in finding Nigeria Christmas bombers
LAGOS, Nigeria — The United States is promising to help Nigeria find those responsible for a wave of Christmas Day bombings that killed dozens in the oil-rich African nation.
“We have been in contact with Nigerian officials about what appear to be terrorist acts and pledge to assist them in bringing those responsible to justice,” according to a statement by White House Press Secretary Jay Carney.
Authorities in Africa’s top oil producer blame the Boko Haram for a surge of violence in the mainly Muslim north and Abuja in which hundreds of people have died this year. Boko Haram, a Muslim sect, reportedly claimed responsibility for the attacks, two of which targeted churches. A year ago, the group said it was behind holiday bombings that killed more than 90.
The first explosion Sunday occurred as services were ending at St. Theresa’s Church near the capital, Abuja. Yemi Ajayi, a police spokesman, said at least 20 people were killed. Another blast, at a church in the central city of Jos, capital of Plateau state, killed a policeman, said Pam Ayuba, a spokesman for the state government.
A suspected suicide-bomber rammed a car into the entrance of the State Security Service building in the northeastern city of Damaturu, killing four people and the bomb.
9 killed in Yemeni military, militants gunbattle
SANAA, Yemen — Yemeni soldiers battled al-Qaida-linked militants Monday outside the southern city of Zinjibar, which remains partly under the control of the Islamists. Five soldiers and four fighters were killed, a military official said.
The intense fighting in northern and eastern Zinjibar included artillery and rocket shelling on militant hideouts, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with military regulations.
He said the military units were engaged in pitched battles with armed gangs deployed on the streets, and have advanced on areas controlled by the militants.
At least 60 people, including 23 soldiers, have been killed in the fighting since last week.
Not to be cold-hearted, but why is this on the top of the Bangor Daily News’ site? Are we going to hear about car crashes in Pennsylvania at the top of the Maine news too? Sure, it’s sad, but there doesn’t seem to be a connection that makes it especially matter here.
Because it’s a national story…What a horrible tragedy.
because the husband was in NY city and the contractor/aquaintance was in his boxers and bare feet while performing his work ,get it ? this is the bdn/tmz !
Probably because of her big important job.
Sad to hear.
She was separated from her husband for three years and had recently filed for an uncontested divorce. She and the children had lived in the $1.75 million house for just under a year.
I see nothing wrong with her seeing anyone after 3 yrs. Your bypassing the tragedy and going straight for the smut angle is unfortunate. You must’ve received a lump of coal yesterday.
Ah no mention of that in the story which was bdn s intention so I did the dirty deed for them some one had to btw your right but don’t expect bdn to clarify the situation
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Could you please use some punctuation to make your post easier to read: thank you.
Sure teach , no prob.)
Sent from my U.S. Cellular Android device
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So you’re blaming the Android for your poor grammar?
:))
The connection is humanity.
Because there is a big world outside of Bangor, Maine that we need to be aware of and care about. The connection is compassion.
The 4 fatality accident in Palermo was in the San Diego newspaper………do we REALLY need another article about the Penguin or Quimby????
It’s a smaller world now and we are all citizens of it. People that don’t want to know about things not in their immediate sphere will always say that these stories are irrelevant to them. Really quite sad…
It sounds like the fire had free reign for too long in the early morning hours. Granted, an old house like this can ignite fast, what with balloon construction, et al, fire can spread fast, but still, wow. :-( What about smoke detectors, etc.? Another story elsewhere on the Internet says the house was in the process of being renovated, but that at the moment, investigators aren’t ready to blame the fire on the renovation process.
Certainly, not even the creator of those awful, semi-pornographic Marky Mark ads deserved this, never even mind the little girls or her parents.
Good grief…….did you really need to add that last sentence?
Well, I will say that I did think about that last sentence for a little bit before I put it in.
In the end, I put it in because I think that people should see how the wealthy are making their money these days. I think the ads are kind of exploitative. I mean, it *is* the crazy, racy, underwear advertising campaigns that made the fortune that was at least partially burned last night.
Some people would have gone much further than I and suggested that it was some god or devil punishing this woman for what she did – and NO, I don’t think that was the case here.
It was a UNDERWEAR ad!!!! What do you want him dressed in…….a snowmobile suit???!!
I REALLY dislike moralistic people that associate their screwed up political and religious agendas with tragedies like this.
We think of Christmas as a time for great joy but when tragedy occurs, it turns our perception topsy turvy. We prefer to regard holidays as a time out for life’s unpleasant moments. Yet death comes on its terms, without asking our permission. That makes a holiday loss all the more depressing, whether we knew the victims or not.
God please help all of them through this tradgedy, including the ones taken, please may the rest in peace
Tragedy abounds all over. Let us hope and pray that the Connecticut fire was just an unfortunate accident and not a sinsiter plan.