Police probing Lindenhurst fire find woman's body

Police investigating a blaze that swept through a couple's Lindenhurst home early Sunday found the woman dead and the man unconscious in a sport utility vehicle parked on a Babylon Town beach.

The body of the woman, 49, was found wrapped in a blanket. The man, 50, had apparently tried to overdose on prescription drugs, police said.

Police said they received a call reporting the fire in a home on North Erie Avenue at 4:15 a.m. Firefighters reached the scene first, police said, and when officers arrived, they discovered "some violence had taken place in the bedroom," said Det. Lt. Gerard Pelkofsky, commanding officer of the homicide squad.

They also found a gas can in the house, he said.

Police sent out a call to officers to be on the lookout for a 2001 Chevrolet Tahoe. They found it about an hour later on Sore Thumb Beach, west of Oak Beach.

The body of the woman was rolled up in a blanket in the back of the vehicle, Pelkofsky said. The man was draped between the front and back sections of the car. Police administered first aid before the man was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital in West Islip, where he was admitted in serious condition, police said.

Police were withholding the couple's identities Sunday until investigators could reach family members. Pelkofsky described the couple as "living in the house but estranged to some degree." He said he did not know their marital status. Neighbors said they were married.

Alex Nadolnik, 12, lives in a house behind the charred home. He said he heard two explosions around 4 a.m.

"At first I couldn't really see it because a tree was blocking it. And then I saw flames everywhere," Alex said.

His father, Jatek Nadolnik, said he jumped into the backyard of the burning house and called out, "Is anyone home? Is anyone home? Do you need help?" He got no response.

Alex and another neighbor, James Lambrecht, who lives two houses down from the fire, said the couple used to entertain friends with barbecues in the backyard, where they had a well-tended lawn and a pool.

But about a year ago, that changed.

The yard became overgrown. The pool remained covered. The parties stopped.

Another neighbor, Michael Sutcliffe, 26, said the woman often chatted with him at the supermarket where he worked part-time, and offered to help him find a full-time job after he finished college.

"She was a really nice lady," he said. "No one deserves that, but she especially did not deserve that."

With Nomaan Merchant