No Charges in Conn. Christmas Fire

Connecticut State Attorney David Cohen said Friday that there was “insufficient evidence” to charge anyone in the Christmas Day fire in Stamford, Conn., that claimed the lives of three children and their grandparents, which authorities say started after a friend of the girls’ mother discarded fireplace ashes by a doorway. The mother, Madonna Badger, and her friend Michael Borcina escaped the fatal blaze. Cohen said Friday that the investigation of the fire was “hampered to some degree” by officials in Stamford, who tore the hollowed-out home down before all evidence was collected. Seven-year-old twins Grace and Sarah Badger died in the fire, along with their 9-year-old sister, Lily, and their grandparents, Lomer and Pauline Johnson.