MD - Tech tycoon's Annapolis mansion destroyed by fire and 6 missing

[Jersey*Girl]

I haven't been on in awhile but was prompted to post bc this entire thread shows several posts that suggest the children of this couple could be involved in this. Maybe you guys are right...but adversely maybe you're wrong. As far as I can see they're victims at the moment so shouldn't everyone err on the side of caution in case they are in fact innocent and you could be making their pain even worse than what it is now? From what I'm reading they haven't been named suspects. 4 children and their grandparents most likely perished in that fire. That's a horrible painful way to die. May they all RIP.

 

[Jersey*Girl]

Something I find odd is that this mansion, built to look like a castle, in some parts literally burned to the ground. Why? Weren't there any fire protection layers. Was it made of cheap materials or something? At the very least and for that kind of money I would think that more of theshell of the house would still be standing. How did it spread so quickly? Shouldn't they have had fire protection barriers inbetween rooms - most especially the bedrooms since they didn't have a sprinkler system? It just doesn't make sense. There was alot of living space in that house. All that oxygen to fuel a fire yet no or minimal protection? Wth...

Pic found here:
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nat...rns-ground-search-occupants-article-1.2084050

 

[Jersey*Girl]

How many fireplaces did they have?

 

[Jersey*Girl]

Don Pyle obviously didn't start out with ScienceLogic. Where else did he work in his past?

 

[Jersey*Girl]

Ummm wow. Just 3 months ago Pyle was named COO and also put on the board of directios for ScienceLogic. The few companies listed in this article alone tell me he had some very pertinent government clearances. Don Pyle has to be incredibly intelligent and I'd wager knows alot about things most of us are shielded from. These are some very serious Defense Department contracting companies... These companies are very capable of making and managing worldwide intelligence data infrastructure. T put it bluntly - they're the best of the best.

http://www.sciencelogic.com/company...c-appoints-it-management-veteran-don-pyle-coo

ScienceLogic Appoints IT Management Veteran Don Pyle as Chief Operating Officer
Pyle Charged With Accelerating Global Expansion

Reston, Virginia – October 13, 2014 – IT Monitoring software provider ScienceLogic today announced that industry veteran Don Pyle has been appointed Chief Operating Officer and a Member of the Board of Directors. Pyle has held multiple CEO positions and brings more than 25 years of IT infrastructure software and hardware experience to ScienceLogic. As COO, Pyle will shepherd the Company’s ongoing global expansion as well as lead the sales and marketing functions. Don’s career track record includes three company IPOs and two acquisitions.

Most recently Don was EVP, Service Provider Strategy and Sales at Infoblox (BLOX). Prior to joining Infoblox, he was CEO of Netcordia (acquired by Infoblox in May 2010) as well as CEO of Laurel Networks (acquired by ECI Telecom in June 20005). Don joined Juniper Networks as the first sales person prior to product launch and helped grow the company from a start-up to $1 Billion in Sales, as VP of North American Sales. He also held sales management positions, rapidly growing divisions within networking companies StrataCom and Cisco Systems.

 

[MamaJoJo]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local...0be2e8-a0d4-11e4-9f89-561284a573f8_story.html

I can't remember which news article stated that two adult sons were living at the home but it doesn't seem true. I'm sure the neighbors would have said if there were more people, besides the owners, living there.

Don Pyle obviously didn't start out with ScienceLogic. Where else did he work in his past?

From the article above...

Donald Pyle, 56, who grew up north of Baltimore and graduated from the University of Delaware, had just become chief operating officer of ScienceLogic, an IT company in Northern Virginia. But, as he told The Washington Post in an interview in October, he made his fortune in “sales, very high-ticket sales to telephone companies and other enterprises.”

In the booming-tech 1990s, he got in on the ground floor of Silicon Valley venture-backed companies, including Stratacom and Juniper Networks. He later became chief executive of Lauren Networks in Pittsburgh and Netcordia in Annapolis. In October, he joined ScienceLogic, where colleagues declined to comment.

 

[Jersey*Girl]

On Monday, authorities said they were told that the Pyle family was preparing to go on a trip and might be out of town. But investigators were not able to reach them by cellphone and have spoken with relatives who could not reach them, either.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local...2f3d88-a0a7-11e4-903f-9f2faf7cd9fe_story.html

Donald Pyle is chief operating officer of ScienceLogic, a Reston-based cybersecurity company that monitors networks for government and private clients.

.......................................

Donald Pyle is chief operating officer of ScienceLogic, a Reston-based cybersecurity company that monitors networks for private and government *clients, including the Pentagon.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local...3945fa-a014-11e4-903f-9f2faf7cd9fe_story.html

The company last year announced a partnership with L-3 Data *Tactics of McLean to bring “big data” monitoring to the U.S. intelligence community and federal government.

Wow, Data Tactics is major but L-3 is a different level of major, it's huge in the intelligence community. For ScienceLogic to partner with L-3 they are in the very elite of the upper most echelon...at least as far tech data goes.

 

[Jersey*Girl]

Interesting -
http://www.data-tactics.com/index.php/who-we-are/in-the-news

L-3 acquires Data Tactics. ScienceLogic partners with L-3. ScienceLogic owns EM7. This article talks about EM7...
http://www.infoworld.com/article/26...-best-network-monitoring-system-on-earth.html

Talk about big brother lmao... Just sayin'...

 

[Elley Mae]

I have been told that the builders are, http://www.pyramid-builders.com/home.php

I can not at this time confirm, it comes from someone in the know of custom home builders in the area. I can imagine the wood that was used in the details. jmo idk


eta I see the home in the ad.

 

[Jersey*Girl]

http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/20/us/annapolis-fire/

Search for 6 missing after Annapolis mansion fire could take days
By Ray Sanchez, CNN
Updated 1:52 PM ET, Tue January 20, 2015

The sheer size of the structure and the fact that three-fourths of the building had collapsed into the basement, with piles of deep-seeded debris still smoldering, compounded the search, said Anne Arundel County Fire Capt. Robert Howarth, who is leading the investigation along with a team from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

"Your looking at five standard houses put together," he said. "This is more of commercial fire than it is a residential fire. There are a lot of businesses that aren't 16,000 square feet. That adds to it."

By midday Tuesday, fire officials had not been able to search the still-burning ruins, Howarth said. Heavy equipment is being moved in over the next 12 hours to aid in the search for victims and clues -- a process that could take days.

"We have some very unique challenges with this house," Howarth said. "The construction of the house contained a lot of very heavy materials. We're looking at some steel beams that weigh in the area of 7 tons."

When the first firefighters arrived on the scene early Monday, they received conflicting reports about whether the family may have been out of town. But after interviews with relatives, it was determined that six members of the family were not accounted for, Anne Arundel County fire officials said.

"We still do not have 100% proof that they're in this house," Howarth said.

 

[Jersey*Girl]

I have been told that the builders are, http://www.pyramid-builders.com/home.php

I can not at this time confirm, it comes from someone in the know of custom home builders in the area. I can imagine the wood that was used in the details. jmo idk

eta I see the home in the ad.

From your link:

ENDURING CRAFTSMANSHIP
Pyramid’s ability to create homes of the finest quality is realized by our outstanding and knowledgeable craftsmen who relish the opportunity to work with the most durable and beautiful building materials. Uncompromising craftsmanship is evident in every phase of the process — from building methods designed to withstand the tests of time, to the greatest attention paid to the smallest detail.

IMO if timed coordinated explosives are what set this fire off, and especially if accelerants were utilized, then there's no or minimal materials really that would withstand obliteration. However, if the fire was an accident, I wonder if the builder tried talking the Pyle's into further fire proofing their home. I also wonder the types of materials used and thickness of the walls, ceilings & floor. If proper fireproofing thickness barriers were utilized, then I wonder about the paints used on the walls and the adhesives used on the flooring (if any).

 

[stmarysmead]

Several articles have mentioned that the Fire Dept was alerted by the Alarm company. Our smoke detectors are connected to our security system too. A neighbor had the Fire Dept show up because they detected smoke in her crawl space when they were not even in the House. I just can't undestand this.

The entire huge house was engulfed...as if there were multiple fires in different wings of the house IMO.

 

[Jersey*Girl]

Several articles have mentioned that the Fire Dept was alerted by the Alarm company. Our smoke detectors are connected to our security system too. A neighbor had the Fire Dept show up because they detected smoke in her crawl space when they were not even in the House. I just can't undestand this.

The entire huge house was engulfed...as if there were multiple fires in different wings of the house IMO.

This is what makes me wonder about the number of fireplaces they had and if they had natural gas. A gas explosion could create a fire like that but wouldn't it have rattled neighbors homes as well? I know the Pyle's home was set away from others but wouldn't an explosion have been felt throughout a certain proximity?

Did the Pyle's have any trees that were very near their home? Could an electrical wire have sparked against a tree branch which in turn could have started the fire? Could that be the source of the 2 pops the neighbor heard?

Where were their electric wires feeding into the house? Were they above OR below ground?

What was the weather like Monday morning? I'm trying to remember if that was the night of the black ice around here. I think it was that very early morning (& previous late evening) throughout the day.

 

[Jessen]

The black ice was Sunday morning. Monday was sunny and about 45 degrees, probably 35 in the morning.

 

[Jersey*Girl]

When did Pyle leave Juniper again? Was that mentioned?

 

[Jersey*Girl]

The black ice was Sunday morning. Monday was sunny and about 45 degrees, probably 35 in the morning.

Thank you sooo much! I couldn't remember. Wonder if that had anything to do with it. Is it even possible?

 

[Jersey*Girl]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-...closing-foreign-practices-investigations.html


http://www.networkworld.com/article/2168931/lan-wan/juniper-being-probed-for-foreign-practices.html


http://www.itnews.com.au/News/353065,juniper-investigated-for-corrupt-business-practices.aspx

Bloomberg News, which first reported the issue, noted that more than half of sales for the networking equipment maker came from outside the United States last year.

China Mobile, Hong Kong's VST Holdings and Deutsche Telecom are some of Juniper's largest overseas customers.

Separately to the FCPA allegations, Juniper is being investigated by a US law firm on behalf of investors in the company, to determine if it and its officers and directors have breached parts of the Securities Exchange Act (1934).

Info is from 2013 but still... Juniper involved in foreign bribes? Then again, what major corp isn't? However, government data takes it to a whole new level. I think the bribes were to buy contracts. So were the bribes monetary or info trading?

 

[Jersey*Girl]

http://pando.com/2014/07/10/cisco-and-juniper-lose-170-million-in-sales-due-to-us-sanctions/

Cisco and Juniper lose $170 million in sales due to US sanctions

BY MARK AMES
ON JULY 10, 2014

Just weeks after the BIS announced its ban on export licenses to Russia, Reuters reported that the Department of Justice and the SEC were investigating Cisco for violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act after a whistleblower exposed Cisco’s inaccurate bookkeeping on its sales to Russia. The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act makes it illegal for companies to bribe foreign officials, and to keep false accounting records.

 

[Jersey*Girl]

http://www.sciencelogic.com/company/leadership

Don Pyle – Chief Operating Officer

Don Pyle is an industry executive veteran, having held multiple CEO positions, and brings more than 25 years of IT infrastructure software and hardware management experience. As COO, Don leads all aspects of the company’s operations, including sales, and marketing functions. Don’s track record includes three company IPOs and two acquisitions. Most recently, Don was EVP, Service Provider Strategy and Sales at Infoblox (BLOX).

Prior to joining Infoblox, he was CEO of Netcordia (acquired by Infoblox in May 2010) as well as CEO of Laurel Networks (acquired by ECI Telecom in June 2005). Don was the first Juniper Networks salesperson prior to product launch, and helped grow the company from a startup to $1 billion in sales. He has also held sales management positions in rapidly growing divisions within networking companies StrataCom and Cisco Systems. Don holds a BSBA in Business Administration from the University of Delaware.

 

[jamiect]

This is what makes me wonder about the number of fireplaces they had and if they had natural gas. A gas explosion could create a fire like that but wouldn't it have rattled neighbors homes as well? I know the Pyle's home was set away from others but wouldn't an explosion have been felt throughout a certain proximity?

Did the Pyle's have any trees that were very near their home? Could an electrical wire have sparked against a tree branch which in turn could have started the fire? Could that be the source of the 2 pops the neighbor heard?

Where were their electric wires feeding into the house? Were they above OR below ground?

What was the weather like Monday morning? I'm trying to remember if that was the night of the black ice around here. I think it was that very early morning (& previous late evening) throughout the day.

You brought up a great point. We had a home explode in my city in Sept 2013. It was a 6000 square foot home and I heard it 6 miles away as clear as day. My first thought was terror attacks, given my close proximity to NYC. In any event if this were a gas explosion, the neighbors homes would have rocked, given the size of this.
Link to explosion in CT
http://abcnews.go.com/US/connecticut-mansion-leveled-mysterious-explosion/story?id=20284454