Police have searched a car registered to the foster mother of a mentally disabled girl who died in an arson fire two weeks ago.
An affidavit filed in support of the search warrant indicates that police believe the arson may not have been a suicide because the victim, Bobbi Jo Womack, would have had trouble opening a gasoline can found at the scene.Womack, 18, died in the fire March 2 in her foster parents' detached garage. Police and fire investigators believe gasoline was used to start the fire, according to the affidavit, signed by Layton police detective Dean Ball.
They question whether Womack could have opened the can because of a traumatic brain injury she suffered in a car accident nine years ago.
"As a result of that accident, Bobbi Jo lost the ability to functionally use her right hand. She also was rendered mildly mentally retarded and was functioning on the level of a 9- or 10-year-old," the affidavit states.
Also, investigators don't believe the fire was accidental because it started in two separate locations of the garage, the affidavit states. Womack's body was found at the rear of the garage, away from its entrance.
Detectives have also focused their investigation on a $100,000 life insurance policy on Womack taken out by her foster parents, John and Tonya Vosburgh.
The affidavit states the couple took out the policy on all of their family members, including Womack, on Nov. 11.
"We did that so Bobbi Jo would have something to borrow money on" when a trust set up for her following the accident was gone, Tonya Vosburgh told the Deseret News. The trust resulted from a settlement with the insurance company of the driver involved in the accident.
The couple said they were asleep when the fire broke out and think the girl went to the garage to smoke a cigarette or "she could have just been messing around with matches," Tonya Vosburgh said.
"I wish I knew what happened in there . . . we loved her like she was our own. There is nothing we would do to hurt her."
She said she had no idea how the fire could have started in two places. "That is a real surprise to me," she said.
She said she also could not un- derstand why the affidavit put emphasis on Womack's right hand. "Bobbi could open a jar of pickles," she said.
Womack had lived with the couple and their 2-year-old daughter for about 14 months.
Womack's natural mother, Eileen, told the Deseret News her daughter was afraid of the dark and wouldn't have gone to the garage alone. "I wish I knew what happened . . . I don't believe she committed suicide."
The Vosburghs told police they awoke about 6 a.m. March 2 to a scream from the detached garage.
"We jumped up, ran upstairs . . . Bobbi's not in her room. We looked out to see if the gate (that leads to the garage) was closed; it was. That's when I saw the black smoke coming out of the garage," Vosburgh said.
Her husband ran to the garage side door, which was opened slightly, opened it more and "all there was was just smoke in there. He said he could just see the bottom of the garage floor. He could hear Bobbi and he yelled at her," she said.
The couple had been in court the day before seeking to become Womack's legal guardians. Womack's natural mother protested their move and asked the court to name her Bobbi Jo's legal guardian. The judge set the matter for an April 29 trial, according to 2nd District Court records.
Eileen Womack says she can't understand why the Vosburghs wanted to become Bobbi Jo's guardians. "They always knew that when she turned 18, I wanted to become her guardian," Womack said.
Bobbi Jo lived with her mother for about seven years after the accident, but Eileen Womack placed her with a group home in Kaysville when Bobbi Jo's sometimes violent behavior became too difficult to manage, Womack said.
Tonya Vosburgh met Bobbi Jo while working at the group home and later asked her mother if the girl could live with the Vosburgh family. The mother consented, the affidavit said.
During the time Bobbi Jo lived with her mother, the trust fund, administered by Valley Bank and Trust, sent her about $200 a month, Womack said.
The Vosburghs received $1,820 a month for Womack's care from the $300,000 trust established after the car accident. The fund now has a balance of $147,000, according to court records.
The affidavit states a bank officer told investigators the Vos-burghs had called the bank and asked the trust officer to release additional money "for clothing and other incidental expenses."
Max Wheeler, Valley Bank's manager of trusts, told the Deseret News the bank may have been paying bills directly for Eileen Womack. He said caretakers other than natural parents usually receive larger trust payments toward care of a disabled person.
The couple at one time asked the bank officer "for a distribution of funds to purchase a home for $180,000 in which they would reside with Bobbi Jo," the affidavit states.
Tonya Vosburgh said neither she nor her husband had ever asked the bank for money to buy a house. But she said they had looked at a home with a price of $180,000. "(The bank officer) must have been mistaken," she said.
Detectives executed the two search warrants last Friday, one to take the measurements of the garage and the second to search the trunk of a car registered to Tonya Vosburgh.
They asked a judge for the second warrant after learning from a Layton assistant fire chief that the car's trunk contained letters addressed to John and Tonya Vos-burgh "that appeared to be from collection agencies or billings of some nature," Ball wrote.
The detective seized about 50 pieces of mail from the car. He also said he saw documents at the fire scene indicating the couple had filed for bankruptcy on May 30, 1991. He later learned the bankruptcy was discharged in September 1991 but said he "spoke with other individuals whose statements indicate that the Vosburghs' financial situation was still in jeopardy," the affidavit said.
Tonja Vosburgh told the Deseret News the family's finances now "are fine."
Ball called the Davis County constable's office and learned, according to the affidavit, that the following actions had been taken involving the Vosburghs:
- A December 1991 summons from the Credit Bureau of Ogden.
- An October 1992 small-claims action against Tonya Vosburgh for unpaid rent.
- Two garnishments on John Vosburgh's paycheck.
- A January 1993 summons currently outstanding for a phone bill in Bobbi Jo's name.
- Papers from Knight Adjustment Bureau in Bobbi Jo's name.