Mom Found Dead In RI House Fire; Son Dies After Bridge Jump In CT

NEW HAVEN, CT — A woman was found dead inside her home after a Monday house fire in Westerly, Rhode Island, and her son died after jumping off of the Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge, also known as the Q-Bridge, in New Haven, Connecticut, Westerly Police Chief Shawn Lacey said. The nightmarish scene began at 4:27 p.m. Monday when firefighters and Westerly police responded to what appeared initially to be a straight-forward house fire at 54 Tum-A-Lum Circle.

Firefighters began to extinguish the blaze and initially found no one inside the house, which was home to a mother and son, police officials said.

Neighbors took video of the fire and gave the recordings to police. The footage showed the driver of a car registered to the owner of the house, Patricia A. Martell, 59, pulling into the driveway just before the fire and the "investigation revealed the son’s vehicle (Scott Martell, 22) left the residence prior to the arrival of police and fire personnel."

Police tracked the location of both the mother and the son's phones and the son's phone showed him to be in Guilford, Connecticut, police said. Guilford police were informed of the situation and were on the lookout for the son's car.

"A short time later CT State Police advised their department had located the vehicle we were trying to locate and an individual from the vehicle had jumped off the Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge, more commonly referred to as the Q Bridge, in New Haven," Lacey said. Detectives tried to interview Scott Martell at Yale-New Haven Hospital but he was unable to speak due to his injuries, Lacey said.

Scott Martell died Tuesday at the Yale-New Haven Hospital, police said.

Back in Westerly, police on Monday said Patricia Martell was still missing but it was too dangerous for investigators to search the fire-ravaged house. At 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, emergency responders were able to enter the home and found her body in the basement, Lacey said.

Her badly burned body was taken to the Medical Examiner's office, where an autopsy was conducted, police said. Results were expected early Wednesday but Lacey said the cause and manner of her death was not determined by late Wednesday.

Lacey said Scott Martell is a suspect in the police investigation, but said that the state fire marshal's office is investigating to determine the cause of the fire.

Patricia Martell, originally from Stonington, was a long-time Westerly Hospital medical-surgical nurse. An outpouring of condolences appeared on her Facebook page.

Scott Martell was arrested in March on a charge of domestic simple assault or battery. He was known to Westerly police, who had previously responded to the house on a number of occasions.

The house was torn down and the investigation continues.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.