Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, December 23, 1994 TAG: 9412230165
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: TODD JACKSON AND RICHARD FOSTER STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: TRUEVINE LENGTH: Long
Firefighters found Cynthia Barton, 34, and three of her children - MaKena Mussleman, 3; Cody Stinespring, 9; and Kelly Stinespring, 11 - inside the old two-story wood-frame house, located near the intersection of Virginia 629 and 651 in the remote southeast corner of the county.
Douglas Bernard, a firefighter with Snow Creek Volunteer Fire Department, helped take the bodies from the house, which was still burning Thursday afternoon.
"We pulled springs from out under where the baby and one of the children were found," he said. "It looked like a sofa. It's possible the child was trying to get the baby out, or they could have been sleeping side by side. ... They were so close together."
Barton's 16-year-old daughter, Cristina Pruitt, who jumped from the second story of the house, a neighbor said, was severely burned. She was flown by Roanoke Memorial Hospital's helicopter to the University of Virginia Burn Center, where she was listed in critical condition Thursday night.
Cynthia Barton's boyfriend, Don Quackenbush, 38, and his son, Don Jr., 15, managed to get out of the house uninjured.
The Quackenbushes were living at the home, according to a news release from Franklin County's Department of Public Safety. The house is owned by Kalinda Wyckoff, and according to Kim Pruitt, Cristina's aunt, had been rented by Barton for about two months.
Kenny Campbell, who lives near the Barton home, was asleep Wednesday night when he was awakened by a knock on the door about 11:30.
It was Pruitt and Quackenbush's son.
Campbell said he immediately called 911. "After I called, I took off over there, but the house was completely engulfed by flames. It was so hot you couldn't get near it."
By the time firefighters arrived, the house had been on fire for more than a half-hour. Fire companies came from Snow Creek, Glade Hill and Rocky Mount. Pittsylvania County sent a rescue squad.
Campbell said the older Quackenbush indicated that Barton had made it outside but went back into the house to try to save her children.
Fire officials would not confirm that Thursday.
Lucia Burnette, a public safety spokeswoman, said the cause of the fire was under investigation by her department, the county Sheriff's Office and the state police.
Firefighters said a wood stove was being used in the home.
Of the seven people who lived in the house, Campbell said he only knew Cynthia Barton, who had visited him from time to time to use the phone - "they didn't have one," he said - and to borrow water.
Campbell said his wife recently bought some kitchenware from Cody and Kelly Stinespring, who were selling the items as part of a class project at Snow Creek Elementary School.
Thursday was the day before Christmas vacation at Snow Creek Elementary.
"Today's been terrible," Principal Thomas Sawyers said. "Probably the worst thing we've had to deal with is the seasonal factor. It's Christmas, and the kids expect to be happy and jolly. But they're feeling bad about the fact that they're upbeat about Christmas. That's what our counselors are dealing with."
Sawyers said five counselors were at the school Thursday to help students.
Jamie Dethlefsen, a fourth-grader, broke down when he tried to talk about Cody, his classmate: "She was fun," was all he could muster before tears started to stream down his cheeks.
Kelly and Cody had been enrolled at Snow Creek only since the beginning of this school year, but Sawyers said they quickly made their mark.
"They had friends who were wealthy, who were poor, who were from different racial backgrounds," he said. "Usually when someone transfers to a school, it takes awhile to acclimate. But they fit in quickly. It was real heartwarming today to see kids from so many socio-economic groups talking about the special relationships they had with Cody and Kelly."
Barton's son was the only one of her five children who was not living at the Franklin County home. He is living with his father in Vinton, Kim Pruitt said. Barton grew up in Salem and spent most of her life in the Roanoke area. Cristina Pruitt attends school in Roanoke, where she is a junior at Patrick Henry High School. She is a cheerleader and a member of the school's flag corps.
The high school's principal, Elizabeth Lee, said she sat beside Cynthia Barton and her 3-year-old daughter at a basketball game just a few days ago.
"She was very, very proud of her daughter and her accomplishments. That's the impression she left with me," Lee said of her conversation with Barton, who was a sales clerk at the Piece Goods store at Towers Mall. "And this child [Pruitt] is very, very special to her classmates. She has a lot of friends here."
At the scene of the fire Thursday afternoon, twisted remnants of a tin roof were scattered through the thick mud left behind by the volume of water used to fight the fire.
Amid hazy smoke, a white shirt and a pair of jeans hung on the clothesline behind what was left of the house - a few charred timbers and a stone chimney.
Snow Creek Fire Chief Buford Campbell offered this:
"It's the worst one I've seen, and we've been here since the late '60s. It's a heck of a thing to happen at Christmastime. It's a heck of a thing to happen any time. It's bad."
Keywords:
FATALITY
Memo: ***CORRECTION***