POP/ROCK - March 19, 1987

A fire destroyed an estimated $200,000 worth of the late Jim Croce’s tapes, gold records, and other memorabilia Tuesday night at the San Diego home of the singer’s widow, Ingrid, and son, A.J., who escaped unharmed. Fire investigators said the blaze erupted when a heater ignited a stack of musical memorabilia that had been placed over a floor heating vent during remodeling. “One of the gold records we found was for a million-selling album, and another one looked like it was for the ‘Bad, Bad Leroy Brown’ song,” said firefighter Leo Alvarez. “They weren’t in very good shape.”