Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Cops Join Investigation Into Fatal Stamford House Fire
By
Jen Chung
Published Dec 31, 2011
Modified Dec 31, 2011
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
By
Jen Chung
Published Dec 31, 2011
Modified Dec 31, 2011
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Funeral arrangements have been set for the three young girls killed in a Christmas Day fire—and a memorial service, scheduled for 10:30 am. Thursday at at St. Thomas, Fifth Avenue and 53rd Street in Manhattan, will be open to the public. Dominic Carrella, of the Frank E. Campbell Funeral Home, tells the Stamford Advocate, "It's going to be a large turnout on Thursday. I know the firefighters from Connecticut will be attending."
Dozens of firefighters responded to the blaze that ravaged a three-story Victorian home around 5 a.m. on Christmas Day. By the time they got there (just minutes after receiving 911 calls), the blaze was too intense and they were unable to rescue anyone inside the home. Lily Badger, 9, and her twin sisters, Grace and Sarah, 7, were killed, as were their grandparents, Lomer and Pauline Johnson. Their mother, Madonna Badger, who owned the house, was rescued from scaffolding outside the house (she was trying to climb to her daughters rooms), while her boyfriend, Michael Borcina, also survived and reportedly needed to be restrained from re-entering the house to try to save the others.
Around 3 a.m. on Christmas, Borcina emptied the fireplace's embers into a bag and put them either in the home's mudroom or a nearby trash enclosure, and investigators believe the embers were the cause of the fire. Now, CBS 2 reports that the Stamford police are getting more involved with the case: Borcina, a contractor, was also in charge of renovating the home and had applied for permits for a smoke detection system, which did not seem to be activated at the time of the fire (it's unclear if there were battery-operated detectors). The family also shouldn't have been technically living on the second floor of the home, because it didn't have final approval for occupancy.
John Jay Professor Robert McCrie told WCBS 2, "Absolutely detectives should be involved, right from the beginning," and said that the police will likely look at Borcina's acitions, "Was it laziness? Carelessness? An accident? Difficult as those issues are, they need to be explored. And those are issues best explored by investigators, detectives, not the fire marshal." Borcina had been in the hospital until mid-week, while Badger was reportedly in a psychiatric hospital in Westchester County. Badger, fashion branding executive, was in the process of getting a divorce from husband Matthew Badger, who lives in New York City.
Lomer and Pauline Johnson will be cremated at Woodlawn Cemetery, but it's unclear whether the ashes will go to Canada or Kentucky. Madonna Badger's brother Wade Johnson posted a message on Facebook, "The Badger family and the Johnson family want to express our thoughts and prayers for all of the people who have been so deeply impacted by the tragedy on Christmas morning. We also want to say thank you for all of the prayers and well wishes that have come in from around the country and the world. We can feel the warmth of your prayers surrounding us as we struggle to cope with the tragic loss of our family members." He previously mentioned, in reference to his father Lomer, who retired as a safety director, "Dad would want me to tell you all to please check your smoke detectors."
Tagged
connecticut
embers
madonna badger
michael borcina
stamford
stamford fire
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
A reliably Republican part of NJ, until ICE came to town
The Trump administration’s plan to convert a warehouse in Roxbury into an ICE detention center has upended local politics ahead of the midterm elections.
By
Mike Hayes
Published Oct 20, 2026 at 6:30 a.m. ET
NYC school integration debate exposes tensions between Black parents and Mamdani
Some see a blind spot when it comes to the representation of Black New Yorkers in Mamdani's administration and agenda.
By
Elizabeth Kim
News
NYC school integration debate exposes tensions between Black parents and Mamdani
Some see a blind spot when it comes to the representation of Black New Yorkers in Mamdani's administration and agenda.
By
Elizabeth Kim
Queens man charged with hate crime at Jewish-owned bagel shop displaying Israeli flags
By
Giulia Heyward
MTA train yards are in such bad shape plants are growing out of the roof, watchdog says
By
Stephen Nessen
High-ranking NYC officials to testify in ex-buildings boss Eric Ulrich's corruption trial
By
David Brand
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .