Mom mourns young family killed in RI blaze

[February 08, 2010]  SMITHFIELD, R.I. (AP) -- Just days ago, Lynn Gaulin's only daughter and future son-in-law were living in her basement while they planned for their lives together and cared for their 7-month-old daughter.

They died Saturday in a fire at a Warwick home that killed five people in one of the worst blazes in Rhode Island since a 2003 nightclub fire killed 100 people. Fire officials think the blaze was an accident, but they were awaiting forensic tests Sunday before announcing the cause.

Gaulin sat in a bedroom above the empty basement Sunday and struggled to hold back tears while looking at a picture of her 21-year-old daughter, Amanda Villeneuve, holding her infant granddaughter, Anabelle Janik. Her daughter's fiance, 20-year-old Dan Janik, also lived in Gaulin's home.

"She was her pride and joy," Gaulin said, gazing at a picture of her daughter smiling with the baby. "That's how she was with her all the time."

Fire officials said the blaze Saturday apparently began in a ceiling or on the second floor of a Warwick home owned by the husband of Villeneuve's paternal grandmother.

Gaulin said she and her boyfriend had traveled to Miami for the Super Bowl earlier this week. As a result, Villeneuve decided to spend several days at her grandmother's home since her fiance worked nights and she didn't like being alone.

Villeneuve's grandmother and her husband decided to go to their second home in Vermont for the weekend. A group of Villeneuve's high school friends came over for a party; the friends often hung out at Gaulin's home.

"They would come over here and play cards all the time because Amanda didn't want to go out," Gaulin said. "Amanda didn't go out and leave the baby."

Neil Leardi, 21, the only survivor, told firefighters that the group went to bed around 3 a.m. Saturday, Warwick Fire Chief Kevin Sullivan said. He was jolted awake shortly after noon when part of the first-floor ceiling collapsed.

Leardi tried to run upstairs but was forced back by smoke and heat, and he called 911. He did not return a message left at his parents' home Sunday.

Upstairs, firefighters found the bodies of Villeneuve; Janik; 24-year-old Nicholas Jillson, the son of North Smithfield's fire chief and brother of former Boston Bruin Jeff Jillson, and 20-year-old Tayla Lackey. The baby was discovered in a crib, firefighters said.

Several of the bodies were badly burned, and authorities said it's possible they never woke up. The blaze may have been smoldering for hours.

The home had a smoke detector in the basement and another on the second floor, which was found melted near where the fire started, Sullivan said. It's unclear whether the alarms went off, he said. Firefighters arriving at the scene did not report hearing them.

Gaulin said her daughter attended New England College in Henniker, N.H., on a full academic scholarship and was interested in becoming a nurse. She left school and moved into a basement apartment at her mother's home with Janik after learning she was pregnant.

She intended to return to Rhode Island College in the fall, while Janik was seeking training to become a firefighter. He worked nights to support his family.

"Everyone's off to have a baby, run back to work," said Kerry Rafanelli, Gaulin's boyfriend. "She had no intention of running back. ... Amanda really devoted her life to that baby."

Villeneuve's aunt initially suggested she might consider adoption.

"She was, in no uncertain terms, 'I am having this baby, I am raising this baby and I will love this baby,'" Gaulin said. "And she did. It's so sad."

[Associated Press; By RAY HENRY]

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