Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, October 13, 1993 TAG: 9310130115
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RON BROWN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Short
Assistant Roanoke Fire Marshal David Deck said charred remains of a mattress used by Melody Caldwell showed that the fire started beneath it.
"It was an electrical fire," Deck said. "She was totally paralyzed. She could not move."
Investigators believe the woman's grandfather, Thomas Leffel, tried to carry her to safety despite being severely burned himself.
Leffel, 66, remained in critical condition Tuesday night in the University of Virginia Hospital burn unit.
The body of the 20-year-old woman was found near the front door of the gutted house.
An autopsy showed that Caldwell, who has been paralyzed since a 1987 automobile accident, died of smoke inhalation, Deck said.
Muhannad Mubaideed, the night manager at the nearby Speed-Way Market, said he noticed smoke trickling out of a first-floor window of the two-story house shortly before 4 p.m. Monday.
Mubaideed called 911. "I think there is a fire on Chapman and 13th Street," he remembered telling dispatchers.
A minute later the house went up in flames. "It was like something blew up inside," he said. "The fire moved real fast."
The Rev. Charles Green, who had counseled the family after Caldwell's automobile accident, is setting up a fund to help ease the family's financial burden created by the fire and the around-the-clock care Caldwell required.
"It has been a 24-hour-a-day struggle," Green said. "I think everybody has sympathy for the family."
Keywords:
FATALITY
by CNB