Woman Identified In Tragic Manorville Fire

After weeks of uncertainty, the woman who died in a tragic Manorville fire on March 13 has been positively identified as Georgianna Woolsey, 62.

Woolsey, who died along with her dog, found draped protectively over her body, was married to the owner of the home, Charles Woolsey.

Since the fire, friends have been seeking answers, hoping to find closure and hold a memorial service for Woolsey.

To that end, a memorial service will be held on Tuesday, April 30, at 11:30 a.m.; the mass will be held at the Shrine of Our Lady of the Island in Manorville.

Suffolk County Police homicide and arson squad detectives are still investigating the Manorviile fire.

Seventh precinct police officers and volunteer firefighters responded to numerous 911 calls reporting a fire at the home, located at 218 Eastport Manor Road, at 9:30 a.m. on March 13.

When officers and firefighters arrived, they found Charles Woolsey outside a residence that was fully engulfed in flames -- and a woman's body inside.

Weeks later, the woman's body remained unidentified -- police were awaiting results of DNA testing-- and friends of Woolsey's wife, Georgianna, sought closure.

"I worked wih Georgie at BJ's," Brenda Vakay Lincoln said. "She was very friendly. She gave her heart and soul to everybody -- and she absolutely loved her dogs."

"Georgie Woolsey was like a mom to everyone at BJs," said her friend Patricia Horn. "I was honored to work with her for the eight years i was at BJs. She had a wonderful smile and a warm heart and she will truly be missed by all her friends and family."

Vakay Lincoln said Woolsey's co-workers and friends had been disturbed because there has been no word if her body has been identified, making it impossible to plan a funeral or memorial service.

"People are upset because there is no closure," she said. "It's just all very sad for everybody."

Remembering her friend, Vakay Lincoln said Woolsey was "very outgoing. It was her husband -- he was a hermit. He liked to stay on his property."

The couple, Vakay Lincoln said, faced financial challenges -- and, when her car broke down, was dependent upon others for rides to work.

Meanwhile, the mystery surrounding the fire is mired in details that include a home seized by the county for back taxes and a man "known" for his behavior in the past, according to fire officials. 

Manorville Fire Department's First Assistant Fire Chief Howard Snow said the woman's body was found in the kitchen and was badly burned. 

Charles Woolsey, 68, a resident of the home, was transported unconscious to Brookhaven Memorial Hospital Medical Center in East Patchogue for treatment of smoke inhalation, police said.

Snow said when he arrived on the scene, the gate was locked and bolted; police were working to open the gate and clear a long driveway that was littered with wires and poles, he said.

"The fire was fully involved," he said. "It was coming out of the roof and all the windows."

Snow said he saw Woolsey as he was being taken from the house by Manorville Captain Richard Berni and an Eastport firefighter.

"They saw a shadow in the doorway," he said. "They pulled him out and got him on stretcher and he was taken to the hospital. He was in and out of consciousness."

The woman, Snow said, was found on a secondary search of the first floor, in the kitchen with her dog.

Snow said it took approximately an hour and a half to knock down the fire and firefighters were on the scene until police, the Brookhaven Town Fire Marshal's Office, and the Suffolk County arson squad took over.

There was no immediate indication of what sparked the blaze, Snow said. 

Snow said when he got the initial call, he recognized Woolsey's name as a "known individual" involved in former incidents.

"There has been a history of problems there," he said."The first report that we got said that there might have been booby traps in his house," Snow said, adding that he was fearful there could have been explosives or holes in the floor.

"One of the men said they saw a shallow hole with glass covered with loose leaves outside. We marked it with a a traffic cone," he said.

The interior of the house was "pretty badly damaged," Snow said, making it difficult to determine whether any booby traps had actually been set or the report was untrue.

Snow recalled a night approximately ten years ago when he was a captain in the fire department. "We were there a few years ago and the guy met us with a gun at the gate," he said. "He was a known individual. We didn't go on that property without the police department there." 

Suffolk County police said that a member of the Manorville Fire Department told media at the scene the story regarding a previous incident on the property involving the man, a gun and a fire.

The police were not involved in that incident, police said.

When Suffolk Police Lt. Jack Fitzpatrick spoke at the scene of the fire, he was asked about weapons on the property at the time of the blaze.

Fitzpatrick said police hadn't yet been able to process the scene, a public information officer for the Suffolk County police department said.

Snow added, "When I got the call, the first thing I asked is if the police were on the scene. I'm not putting my guys in jeopardy if we have an unknown individual who hasn't been stable in the past. Bad stuff happens to firemen -- and we are all volunteers - and my job is to make sure everyone goes home safely." 

The fire, Snow said, was unusual in that "there was an awful lot of fire on arrival. That's rare during the day."

Normally during daylight hours so many calls come in that the fire does not spread so quickly. "It really raises eyebrows," he said.
The Suffolk County Arson Squad is investigating; part of the investigation will include whether accelerants could have been used, Snow said.

In another twist, Woolsey, according to Vanessa Baird-Streeter, spokesperson for Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone, had been due in court the same day as the fire, after being served with an eviction notice.

According to Baird-Streeter, Woolsey owed $276,842 in back taxes; the county seized the property and took ownership in 2010, she said, after he failed to pay taxes since 2005.

Woolsey, she said, submitted a redemption application and entered into a license agreement that would allow him to pay a monthly cost to stay in his home because he'd indicated that he was going to bankruptcy court.

"He didn't make good on that," she said.

Next, the county tried to serve Woolsey with a ten-day notice to vacate the property in November but the processor was unable to access the house because of the locked gate.

A notice of petition was sent, with proceedings to verify the petition originally scheduled for Feb. 20.; Woolsey, she said, appeared in court and asked for a two-week adjournment to March 6.

Again, Woolsey appeared in court and asked for an adjournment  to March 13 -- the day of the fire.

Woolsey, she said, never appeared in court due to the fire.

The property was set to be sold at auction later this year, Baird-Streeter said.

Numerous media photos of the home showed the words "We will not submit" to the threat, painted on the roof of the house.

One neighbor, who asked not to be identified, said Woolsey was "eccentric," and had been seen with videocameras, taping neighbors, and had an air cannon.  The investigation is continuing.

Anyone with information on the incident is asked to call Suffolk County homicide squad detectives at 631-852-6392.