Youngstown Fatal Fire

[jim trk 1]

Hey All,

 Just saw on the news that Youngstown Fire had a fatal fire at 5:30 am.  5 people were killed. Just wondering if anyone had anymore info on it.

[daysleeper47]

It's up to 6:

East Side fire deaths being treated as homicides

Published:Wednesday, January 23, 2008

YOUNGSTOWN — Detectives are treating the deaths of two women and four children in a house fire as homicides, city police said this morning.

Firefighters were called to 1645 Stewart Ave. on the city’s East Side at 5:29 a.m. today and the suspected arson fire was under control by 9 a.m., even though smoke still billowed from a gable on the two-story wood frame house.

Fire Chief John J. O’Neill Jr. said the victims were found throughout the house. Fire officials said the Ohio State Fire Marshal would send in a dog to help search for accelerants. Police Sgt. Patrick Kelly said it appears an accelerant of some kind had been ignited on the front porch

Kelly said four survivors are being treated at St. Elizabeth Health Center.

For more on this story, return to Vindy.com all day and see Thursday’s Vindicator.

[daysleeper47]

Victims of fatal fire identified

Published:Wednesday, January 23, 2008

YOUNGSTOWN — The Mahoning County Coroner has identified the six victims of a fatal arson fire on the East Side this morning.

They are: Carol Crawford, 46, her daughter Jennifer R. Crawford, 23, and Jennifer’s four children, Raneija, 8, Jeannine, 5, Aleisha, 3, and Brandon, 2.

Four teenage boys were taken into custody for questioning after the predawn fire that investigators said was intentionally set.

Investigators believe an accelerant was poured on the porch of 1645 Stewart Ave. and ignited. Within minutes, flames engulfed the five-room 1 3/4 story house.

Fire Chief John J. O’Neill Jr. said 911 was called at 5:29 a.m.

Three other residents of the home, a man and two women, made it out of the and were taken to St. Elizabeth Health Center. Their conditions were not immediately known.

Police and fire investigators were expected to provide details later today on the teenage boys being questioned.

[daysleeper47]

Four teenagers being questioned in fatal arson fire

Published:Wednesday, January 23, 2008

YOUNGSTOWN — Four teenage boys were taken into custody for questioning after a predawn fire that investigators said was intentionally set claimed the lives of two women and four children.

Investigators believe an accelerant was poured on the porch of 1645 Stewart Ave. and ignited. Within minutes, flames engulfed the five-room 1 3/4 story house.

Fire Chief John J. O’Neill Jr. said 911 was called at 5:29 a.m.

Three other residents of the home, a man and two women, made it out of the and were taken to St. Elizabeth Health Center. Their conditions were not immediately known.

Police and fire investigators were expected to provide details later today on the teenage boys being questioned.

[daysleeper47]

From WYTV:

Youngstown Deadly Fire
 Youngstown Fire Chief John O'Neill, says forty-six year old Carol Crawford, twenty-three year old Jennifer Crawford, eight year old Raneija, five year old Jeannine, three year old Aleisha, and two month old Brandon perished in the fire. As many as five other people were in the single family home on the city's East side when the fire started.

A spokeswoman for St. Elizabeth Medical center says three people are being treated there.

O'Neill says the coroner's office is investigating the relationship among those inside.

The chief says the fire started near the front of the house, either on the porch or just inside the front door. City police are on the scene and treating the blaze as a potential arson.


Story Created: Jan 23, 2008 at 1:20 PM EST

Story Updated: Jan 23, 2008 at 1:20 PM EST

[daysleeper47]

Investigators Release Names of East Side Fire Victims
WFMJ.com

Fire officials say a house fire that broke out at 5:30 this morning killing six people, including four children may have been set.

Investigators says 2-year-old Brandon Crawford, 5-year-old Jeannine Crawford, 3-year-old Aleisha Crawfod, and 8-year-old Raneija Crawford were all pronounced dead at the scene. Their mother, 23-year-old Jennifer Crawford, and grandmother, 46-year-old Carol Crawford also died.

Spokeswoman for St. Elizabeth Medical center, Tina Creighton, says three people are being treated at the hospital.

Investigatators say the fire started near the front of the house, either on the porch or just inside the front door. City police are on the scene and treating the blaze as a potential arson.

[daysleeper47]

This link was on CNN.com and contains a 12-photo gallery.

http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/news/15119208/detail.html

[daysleeper47]

Greg, is there any way to create a special page on your website since there are a lot of articles relating to this blaze? Something you can link to http://www.youngstownfire.com/majorfires/majorfires.shtml and similar to the other large fires in the city you have covered?

[yfdgricker]

Arson case brings IQ concerns
Story by Patricia Meade, Vindicator Crime Reporter, from the Youngstown Vindicator on 1/30/2008.

The suspect is a slow learner and has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, his mother said.

YOUNGSTOWN — The lawyer who represents the man accused of a fire that killed six people wants a mental evaluation to be done, concerned that his client can’t read.

Youngstown attorney Martin E. Yavorcik said Tuesday that he discovered the problem when he brought legal documents to 18-year-old Michael A. Davis at the Mahoning County jail.

Davis, of Bennington Avenue, is charged with six counts of aggravated murder and 11 counts of aggravated arson and is being held in solitary confinement without bond.

“He didn’t finish high school and says he can’t read at all,” said Yavorcik, who was court-appointed to represent Davis. “He wouldn’t look at the papers I brought and said, ‘I can’t read,’ so I have concerns.”

Yavorcik said he will request a mental evaluation for his client once the case is assigned to a judge at Mahoning County Common Pleas Court. He is aware that the case will be presented to a grand jury Thursday and that prosecutors want the death penalty.

Carol Crawford, 46, her daughter Jennifer R. Crawford, 23, and Jennifer’s four children, Ranaisha, 8, Jeannine, 5, Aleisha, 3, and Brandon, 2, all perished in upstairs bedrooms at their Stewart Avenue home. An accelerant on the porch was ignited sometime after 5 a.m. Jan. 23.

“Michael confessed [to detectives] so that they would not arrest everyone at the house,” his mother, Ann Davis, told The Vindicator on Tuesday. “I know he wouldn’t hurt those kids, he has a sister of his own. He used to play football with Brandon and chase the girls around the yard.”

The Davis family house on Bennington is just around the corner from where the Crawfords lived on Stewart.

Yavorcik said he couldn’t comment on whether his client confessed to protect his family. “If it occurred, it’s an issue I’ll have to address,” he said.

Ann Davis, when asked about Michael’s reading ability, described him as a slow learner who has difficulty reading. She said she also has documents to show that he suffers from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

She said her younger sons, Scott, 16, and James, 17, gave DNA samples (mouth swabs) at the police department crime lab this week because urine was found in the backyard of the fire scene. The DNA tests, she said, were taken to rule them out as suspects in the arson.

She said a 15-year-old boy who stayed overnight at her home set the fire and Michael “went to stop the fire.” She said she learned from detectives that lighter fluid was used.

Within two hours of the fire, Michael Davis, his brothers and another boy were questioned by detectives. Only Michael was arrested and his clothes seized.

“I admit my kids ain’t perfect — teenagers get into trouble,” Ann Davis said. “They’re not bullies, they only fight people who fight with them.”

She said that, as a juvenile, her son Michael “was just stealing cars — that’s it.” Michael Davis became an adult Dec. 15, 2007, roughly a month before the deadly arson.

Ann Davis said her family is no longer staying at the house on Bennington and has moved out of town. She said there had been threats to blow up her home since the fire. Police were assigned to keep an eye on the place.

Yavorcik said he intends to try and reach his client’s mother this week to talk about the case, adding that Michael wants money for his commissary account at the jail. Inmates use the account to buy snacks.

Ann Davis said she intends to visit her son at the jail today and will give him more money for the account. She said she wants to hire a lawyer from Cleveland and not have one who is appointed. Yavorcik said she has every right to retain counsel.

A source has said that a dispute over a stolen cell phone served as motive for the arson. An AT&T cell phone was logged in as evidence at the police department Monday.

Fire Capt. Alvin Ware, meanwhile, said the age of the Crawford house on Stewart had nothing to do with the fire spreading so fast. He said the accelerant used caused the flames to engulf the house within minutes.

Records show the five-room 13⁄4-story yellow wood frame house was built in 1925.

Ware, head of the arson bureau, said old houses may experience electrical problems that could possibly cause a fire. The house on Stewart had been in good shape overall, he said.

Constructionwise, some older houses, even hundreds of years old, are better than new ones if well maintained, Ware said. The houses that do burn fast, he said, are vacant, wide-open structures with open doors and windows that allow the flames to spread quickly.

meade@vindy.com