watched a crime show on tv. was that popping noise she heard coming from somewhere in the neighborhood or was it her tv show? or just a remnant of the windy day? licking around her windowsill. the silent night closed in again. april 30th, 2011. tornado season. and there was a storm that night. a whirlwind even then sweeping all of them into its vortex. but it began not with wind. with fire. 911. you have an emergency? yes. what s the problem? calm down. there s there s a fire. 3:51 a.m. the man on the phone to 911 was frantic, out of breath. and my wife is here is the actual video of kingman s one officer on duty that night running to his police car and speeding to the burning house. where he met the 911 caller outside. you can hear them both recorded by his patrol car s dashboard
video camera. where are you at? the man said his wife was still in the master bedroom, in the back of the house, second floor. and if that was true, it didn t look good for her. a passerby caught this video on his cell phone. by then the volunteer fire brigade was arriving. not much any of them could do for the woman inside. as the man calmed down a little, he told the officer he was able only to rescue his 2 and 4-year-old sons, carry them to safety. so somewhere in there his wife, their mother, was dead. there was more to his story, as you ll hear. much more. but for now the dismal business of sorting out what happened. so where to begin? 9 man on the street said his wife s name was vashti. vashti seacat. it was a name out of the bible. in the book of ester there was a queen vashti.