Haunted by a morgue photograph, Lt. Rick Davey, 42, investigator for the Hartford Fire Department, decided to find out who she was. Beginning in 1982, he studied files and interviewed old-timers. He publicly identified her last month as Eleanor Cook.
If Davey could solve that mystery, what about the fire itself? At the time, the police concluded that a dropped cigarette, probably igniting the tent, caused the fire. But Davey found witnesses who said the flames started high on the tent wall. Davey even tracked down a possible arsonist: a 14-year-old circus worker. Davey’s suspect, now 61 and living in Ohio, denies setting the circus fire, He later served time for arson elsewhere, which he allegedly confessed to committing after “frustrating” sexual experiences. Connecticut officials are reviewing the case to determine whether it was arson or an accident. Says Davey: “These [fire victims], even in death, have a right to expect that the truth be known.”
