Aug 13, 2007 11:11 pm US/Central
Police: Mom Set Fatal Naperville Fire
Woman Filed Order Of Protection Against Husband In May 2007
CBS 2's Derrick Blakley, Kristyn Hartman, Dana Kozlov and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
NAPERVILLE, Ill. (CBS) ―
A suburban Chicago mother bought a can of gasoline, shut herself in her bedroom with her two young children and set a blaze over the weekend that ended up killing all three of them, police said Monday.
Investigators believe 32-year-old Nimisha Tiwari -- who police said was in a "troubled marriage" -- set herself on fire, and rescuers found all three ablaze on a bed in the master bedroom.
Surveillance video shows Tiwari driving her children, Vardaan Tiwari, 4, and Ananya Tiwari, 18 months, to a nearby gas station where she purchased gasoline, said Naperville Police Chief David Dial.
Police say she then went to a toy store where she bought two toys, Dora the Explorer and Tommy the Tank Engine. The toys were found at the home.
"It is tragic and it is senseless. I can't explain why. I can't give you the reason," Dial said.
Monday, evidence technicians photographed the front door that firefighters found locked with a deadbolt Saturday afternoon. They broke it down to discover three burning bodies in a second floor bedroom. Police say all three died from burns suffered in the blaze.
Police say Tiwari's husband had nothing to do with the crime. Police say they do not know of a motive for the double murder and suicide, but say the couple had marital problems. The couple married in India in 1999 and moved to the United States shortly afterward. Police say both the husband and wife had contacted them back in May 2007about a domestic dispute, but that had since been resolved.
Tiwari filed a lengthy order of protection against her husband in May, claiming that he threatened to take the kids away, repeatedly told her son "Mom in crazy;" threatened to throw her out of the house; drained their joint bank account; took away her credit cards, phone and e-mail; and told her to commit suicide.
The order was later lifted and Dial cautions, "Do not try to make too much out of this order of protection. I'm telling you right now, the husband cooperated fully. He has taken a polygraph examination. The man is distraught."
All of it leaves neighbors shaking their heads in disbelief.
"To see these kids playing around one day and next day they are gone...it was really beyond imagination," said next door neighbor Steven Naday.
All along, investigators had been calling the fire suspicious.
"We ruled out that there's an accidental fire, yes, it's not an accident," said Naperville Police Cmdr. Ken Parcel. "We will do everything it takes to have final answers and resolution to this case."
Naperville police also said that the husband and father of the victims was not at home at the time of the fire and is not a suspect. Detectives said he was taking business classes in Chicago.
The victims were first transported Sunday to Edward Hospital in Naperville, where the boy was pronounced dead. His mother and sister were later airlifted to Loyola University Medical Center, where they died of their injuries.
Someone placed crosses with their names in front of the home on Nutmeg Lane. Neighbors who saw smoke coming from the house on Saturday, and who called 911, returned to the scene to pay their respects.
"It was very upsetting. I mean, when we saw the little girl, it was very sad," said neighbor Jillian Petterek.
"It was very nerve-wracking. We did stay and watch them bring bodies out, the little boy I believe. But she's the one who discovered the smoke," said her mother, Kathy Petterek.
Monday, kids played basketball three doors down from the burned out house, and one mother said the tragic results of the police investigation should calm her 11-year-old son.
"That will give him some peace of mind that somebody's not going to enter into his home and do this to him," Mary Wojciehowski said.
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