| by Alan Feuer and Nate Schweber 
		 Wendy Burlingame's father, Charles, 
		piloted American Airlines Flight 77 on Sept. 11, 2001, before hijackers 
		flew it into the Pentagon. The New York Times, 12/6/06 (Dec. 6) - Five years after her father’s 
		plane crashed into the Pentagon in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, a 
		woman was found dead yesterday in a fire at the Galaxy Towers apartment 
		complex in Guttenberg, N.J.  The woman, Wendy Burlingame, 32, was 
		discovered by firefighters in a short hallway between the kitchen and 
		the bedroom of her 10th-floor apartment where the four-alarm fire began, 
		said Edward DeFazio, the Hudson County prosecutor. Mr. DeFazio said the 
		fire, which law enforcement officials are calling suspicious, began 
		shortly after midnight in the apartment Ms. Burlingame shared with her 
		companion and was still under investigation, as was the cause of Ms. 
		Burlingame’s death. No one else was injured in the fire, Mr. DeFazio 
		said.  Ms. Burlingame was the daughter of 
		Charles F. Burlingame III, a 25-year Navy veteran who was the captain of 
		American Airlines Flight 77, which slammed into the Pentagon on Sept. 
		11., 2001, killing 189 people.  Mr. DeFazio said her companion of three 
		years was among several people being interviewed in connection with her 
		death. He would not identify the companion, but tenants in the complex 
		identified him as Kevin Roderick.  Sebastian Rojas, 27, lives downstairs 
		from Mr. Roderick. He said that while he did not know Mr. Roderick and 
		Ms. Burlingame well, they were “real late-night people” whose footsteps, 
		and two dogs, he heard constantly above his head.  The two dogs were also found dead in the 
		home, Mr. DeFazio said. 
			
				
					
						
							
								
									Shortly before the fire 
									erupted, Mr. Rojas said, there were “louder 
									noises than usual” coming from the apartment 
									upstairs, “like somebody running around up 
									there, like somebody doing something up 
									there in a rush.” 
									Then he said he heard a 
									thud — “like somebody dropped something”— 
									and three or four minutes later the 
									building’s fire alarm sounded. Mr. Rojas 
									said that within minutes his apartment 
									filled with smoke. He then safely left the 
									building.  Lucy Gell, who works at 
									the building’s front desk, said that Ms. 
									Burlingame was a kind, generous woman with 
									“model good looks.” She added that Ms. 
									Burlingame had brought her down a plate of 
									turkey and mashed potatoes on Thanksgiving, 
									saying that Mr. Roderick was out. 
									 Debra A. Burlingame, Ms. 
									Burlingame’s aunt, was reached at home last 
									night before she even knew of her niece’s 
									death. She burst into tears on the phone and 
									would not comment further. Ms. Burlingame’s 
									mother, Nancy Perfect, was also reached at 
									home last night. She, too, declined to 
									discuss her daughter’s death.  Copyright © 2006 The New 
									York Times Company Return to 
		Table of Contents   |