CANADA Canada - Livia Beirnes, 76, tied to pole, died in house fire, Ontario, 4 Aug 2010 *new initiative*

[dotr]

June 1 2020
Police release video in St. Catharines murder investigation

''Niagara Regional police have released a video hoping it will lead to tips in a St. Catharines cold case.

Police are offering a reward of up to $50,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for the death of Livia Beirnes.

The 76 year old victim died in a house fire on Oakwood Avenue on August 4th, 2010.

Neighbours heard her cries for help coming from the basement, but were unable to get into the house to rescue her.

When fire crews arrived they found Mrs. Beirnes had been tied to a pole and therefore was unable to escape.

She died the next day in hospital.

Further investigation revealed there has been five fires in the neighbourhood over a two year period.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Sergeatn Jamie Munro at (905)688-4111.''

 

[margarita25]

Oh, @dotr, this is heartbreaking

Serial arsonist and killer?

 

[dotr]

ONTARIO COLD CASE: Neighbours hear cries for help as senior's home burns
Aug 29, 2019 rbbm

''Homicide victim Livia Beirnes died after an Aug. 4, 2010 fire at her home at 11 Oakwood Ave. in St. Catharines. Niagara Regional Police said she was bound and unable to escape. - Torstar File Photo

A decade after her mother’s death, Naomi Beirnes says her family remains hopeful a suspect or suspects will be identified.

“It’s been so many years. She was there one minute and murdered the next. We’re still waiting for answers.”

The brutal murder of 76-year-old Livia Beirnes shook the St. Catharines, Ont., community on a summer night in 2010.


It was on Aug. 4 when Beirnes was tied up by an unknown person and left to die inside her burning home.''

''On that night, neighbours reported seeing flames and heard Beirnes calling out for help from within her home at 11 Oakwood Ave.

Neighbours ran to help her and asked Beirnes if she could make her way to a door or window. The woman said she couldn’t because she was tied to a pole in the basement.

Firefighters managed to free Beirnes from her restraints, and she was taken to hospital. She died the next day.''

''Police have said the fire is one of five that occurred in the area between May 2009 and April 2011. Officers believe they're connected and the person or people responsible have ties to the neighbourhood.''

 

[margarita25]

ONTARIO COLD CASE: Neighbours hear cries for help as senior's home burns
Aug 29, 2019 rbbm

''Homicide victim Livia Beirnes died after an Aug. 4, 2010 fire at her home at 11 Oakwood Ave. in St. Catharines. Niagara Regional Police said she was bound and unable to escape. - Torstar File Photo

A decade after her mother’s death, Naomi Beirnes says her family remains hopeful a suspect or suspects will be identified.

“It’s been so many years. She was there one minute and murdered the next. We’re still waiting for answers.”

The brutal murder of 76-year-old Livia Beirnes shook the St. Catharines, Ont., community on a summer night in 2010.


It was on Aug. 4 when Beirnes was tied up by an unknown person and left to die inside her burning home.''

''On that night, neighbours reported seeing flames and heard Beirnes calling out for help from within her home at 11 Oakwood Ave.

Neighbours ran to help her and asked Beirnes if she could make her way to a door or window. The woman said she couldn’t because she was tied to a pole in the basement.

Firefighters managed to free Beirnes from her restraints, and she was taken to hospital. She died the next day.''

''Police have said the fire is one of five that occurred in the area between May 2009 and April 2011. Officers believe they're connected and the person or people responsible have ties to the neighbourhood.''

This has strong potential for geographic profiling, imo.

Thank you for starting this thread, @dotr. This is beyond heartbreaking and disturbing.

Is there any information about the other fires? Their locations, etc.?

Any and all information is appreciated.

 

[dotr]

rbbm.

Niagara Regional Police say there were five suspcious fires within a one-block radius of Oakwood Avenue over a two-year period. - Screen grab from Niagara Regional Police video
VIDEO: Police continue plea for information on 2010 fire homicide
''The fire at the Beirnes home was the second in the series of fires.

On Mar. 3, the NRP released a video about the Beirnes homicide and provided details of the related fires.

The first occurred in May 2008, when a truck was set on fire in the driveway at 8 Oakwood Ave. The vehicle was completely destroyed.


The third fire occurred just three days after the Beirnes homicide when a vacant house was set on fire at 56 Hartzel Rd.

On May 27, 2011, a house fire at 15 Bettersea Ave. caused extensive damage.

The home was unoccupied at the time.

And on Apr. 11, 2011, firefighters were again called to 8 Oakwood Ave., this time for a structure fire. A 25-year-old mother and two young children barely escaped from a fire set near the rear of the home.''

Speaking in the video, Munro said investigators have reason to believe they are all connected.

 

[dotr]

Unrelated? In a different series of arson involving cars in the St Catharine's area, a woman was arrested..
July 2019
Arrest made in series of St. Catharines car fires
''A St. Catharines woman is facing arson charges related to seven different car fires within the city in the last two months.

In the early hours of Wednesday morning, uniformed officers with the Niagara regional police who were patrolling the area of Lake Street and Beech Street noticed something burning under a parked car. They also noticed a person walking away from the car.

Since March of 2019, police have been investigating a series of car fires in the mid-town area of St. Catharines. Directed patrols in the area where a number of the car fires have taken place have been conducted in recent weeks''.

 

[dotr]

A life of music and grace
Aug 12, 2010 rbbm.
A life of music and grace

Naomi and Varley Beirnes with their mother, Livia.
Livia Beirnes created a musical home for her children.

''The family would sit around the kitchen table singing harmonies. Having spent some of her 20s studying music, including in Europe, Livia made sure her children had the same opportunities she did by enrolling them in a renowned youth choir. The choir toured extensively, performing in the music capitals of Europe, allowing the Beirnes to see the world.

Son Varley Beirnes recalls being a typical child in that he had to be dragged kicking and screaming to rehearsals. But on the way home it was a different story.


“I’d come back and remember singing my heart out in the back of the car,” he said.

That love of music stayed with him, all through high school when he would be moved nearly to tears at orchestral performances, to this day. That was one of Livia’s gifts to her children.''

''In the natural order of things, the family home would be a place of comfort for children after losing their parents, a place to gather, to look through memorabilia and reflect. For the Beirnes children, that was taken away from them along with their mother.


“Instead, we have to track through the carnage that this monster left behind,” Beirnes said.''

 

[dotr]

Inside the Mind of an Arsonist
''Research shows that fire-setters are significantly more likely to have been registered with psychiatric services compared with other criminal offenders, and four times more likely compared with community controls. Between 10 percent to 50 percent of patients who are admitted to medium-security forensic mental health services have a record of deliberate fire-setting. Fire-setting in adolescence and early adulthood predicts schizophrenia in later life. Fire-setting behavior is associated with animal cruelty in juveniles; the other statistically significant risk factors being male gender, and the victim of sexual abuse. Arsonists differ from typical violent offenders in being more socially isolated and lacking coping skills, and the prevalence of suicide is significantly higher than controls. Females are reported to commit nearly one-third of deliberately set fires, but less is known about the psychopathological and criminal characteristics of female fire-setters. Female fire-setters in a recent study were more often diagnosed with depression, substance abuse, and personality disorder than male arsonists.''

Female Arsonists Have Different Motivations, Diagnoses | MedPage Today
"AUSTIN, Texas -- Female arsonists have a psychiatric profile that's distinct from both male arsonists and female non-arsonist offenders, and clinicians should work to develop appropriate coping strategies for them, researchers said here.

Although studies have been done on arsonists who are men, few have been done on those who are women, Alick Wang and colleagues, of McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, said in a poster presentation at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law. Only one review, published in 2010, has been done on the topic.''

 

[dotr]

2017 rbbm.
Police say fires connected to 2010 murder
“I cannot get into a discussion about evidence at this point, but we do think the fires are connected and that it is significant,” said Det. Sgt. James Munro of the NRP major crimes unit.''

''Although Munro said he could not, for investigative reasons, disclose why police now believe the arsons are connected to Beirnes’ death, he did point out the fires are linked geographically.

Munro would not speculate why Beirnes was tied up in her house when it was set on fire — making it markedly different from the other four arsons — but did say police detectives are also consulting with behavioural psychologists to get a clearer understanding of the mindset of the person behind the fires.

Police are asking anyone with information to contact Munro at 905-688-4111 or call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS, online at www.niagaratips.com or by text ago 274637 with the keyword Niagara.''

 

[dotr]

Unsure if these string of fires are related to this case or not, but there has been an arrest.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/welland-fires-arson-1.5639188
Jul 06, 2020
''Niagara police have charged a man with arson following investigations into 15 fires set throughout Welland in recent weeks that a fire official says had the potential to cause "catastrophic" consequences.
The 33-year-old, who has no fixed address, was arrested Sunday, according to police.''

In this 2019 Texas case, a woman tied an elderly woman to a chair and set her house on fire, noting because it is unusual and maybe could shed some light on Ms Beirnes' murder. imo, speculation.
Robbery suspect wanted after tying up elderly Kaufman County woman, setting home on fire
''KAUFMAN COUNTY, Texas - The Kaufman County Sheriff's Office needs to find the person who tied a 78-year-old elderly woman to a chair and set her house on fire.''

''The 78-year old woman barely survived the heinous attack, but she was able to give investigators a detailed description so they could make a sketch.''

 

[LadyL]

oh that poor dear woman
what a terrible way to go
and no clues as to perp

 

[dotr]

Noting...a now solved case..
Unsealed record suggests Talbott left DNA on zip tie in 1987 | HeraldNet.com
''There were zip ties along the road near the body of Tanya Van Cuylenborg, 18, north of Mount Vernon.
There were zip ties in Bellingham, in the big bronze Ford van the couple drove around Puget Sound on what was to be an overnight trip to Seattle.
On one plastic tie in the van, a crime lab found DNA from three people''.

UNSOLVED MURDER | Police focus on unusual zip ties used to help kill St. Catharines senior
''Police also say that Beirnes was restrained with zip ties, which were not sold commonly, but were sold by distributors to commercial businesses and mainly used for electrical work.''