The Region - News from April 19, 1987

No charges will be brought against a woman who disconnected the fire alarm in her Southeast San Diego apartment just one week before her 2-year-old daughter died in a fire there, the San Diego County district attorney’s office said. Edwyna Madden could have been fined $200 for disconnecting the fire alarm. But the case was dismissed because “we didn’t think there was sufficient evidence of poor parenting or negligence on the mother’s part,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Paul Burakoff said. Madden and her 3-year-old son escaped through a window after being unable to reach her daughter, Melissa. The child was rescued minutes later but died of severe burns.