Hartford Courant from Hartford, Connecticut • 51

ED. B9 THE HARTFORD COURANT: Friday, Jww 12, 19S1 16 Forced To Flee CastsShadow bhimsmsajm eamnce Flaming Tenement OfiMliMdOver Bridgeport Neighb ors smoke inhalation. Sorenson said police were investigating a minor disturbance involving two tenants that occurred before the blaze erupted about 2:30 a.m. Firefighters had the flames under control within the hour, Sorenson said. was set at $50,000.

Police still are checking Gar rett's background and know little about him. He reportedly was born in Bridgeport, but lived in Los Angeles; Las Vegas, and West Palm Beach, Fla. until recently. Police said he was given a lie detector test, but they refused to dis- cuss the results. Crawford, too, has been ques-.

tioned repeatedly by the police, and -she said she resents that They get me upset at times when they ask me did I kill my baby or when they, ask did I black market it with my boyfriend, Ronald," she said, She also resents many of the peo-: pie who live in the Barnum project who have expresed theories ranging By ABIGAIL SULLIVAN Courant Staff Writer 'J: NEW BRITAIN An early morn- ing blaze heavily damaged a three-story tenement at 625 W. Main St Thurs- sending 16 tenants fleeing into the streets and injuring one firefighter. --Thebrick-and-wobd building was one of four tenements managed Dy Alfred Prestia. They were the subjects of an unusual court decision last week in which $58,685 in rent was ordered refunded because the structures did not meet minimum housing standards. The building, owned by resident Charles Prestia, son of the manager, was condemned later Thursday by city health officials because of extensive water and fire damage and the lack of utilities: Fire Inspector James Sorenson said the cause of the fire hadn't been determined.

He said the blaze began in a bed in a rear, third-floor apartment, and he ruled out building or housing code violations as the cause. All 16 tenants have found lodgings with friends and relatives, Alfred Prestia said Thursday. New Britain firefighter Simon "Dzwil received second-degree burns on us right wrist ana first-degree burns on his neck while battling the blaze, authorities said. Two other fire-' fighters were treated at the scene for in P.T. Barnum's many courtyards She said when she gets her child back she is going to tell a lot of people off.

"They think I killed her," said Crawford, a thin woman dressed in blue jeans and a print blouse. "Then why did I buy her these?" i She left the sofa and reached into a closet, pulling out a box that held two tiny white sneakers "These are Pro Keds they cost $15." Mary said. "You think rd buy Pro Keds if I knew my daughter wasn't going to be here when I got home?" Police said the child was reported 1 missing about 6 p.m. last Friday, shortly after. Crawford arrived home from her Comprehensive Employment Training Act lob.

Crawford said she left the child with her boyfriend about 8:30 a.m. to go to work. Garrett told police that the boy who took the child came to the apartment about 10:30 a.m. On Saturday, P.T. Barnum resi-y dents joined members of the Police and Fire departments to search the housing project for the child.

Hous- ing authority police say they checked every apartment, hallway, underground tunnel roof and dump-V ster, going through hundreds of plastic bags filled with garbage. Mayor John Mandanici has of-, fered a $5,000 reward for anyone who finds the child. Meanwhile, the search and the gossip continues, and Crawford waits. Her dark brown, braided hair holds traces of red dye. She looks about 17, but she is 23 and the mother of two: 4-year-old Michael, who spends most of his time with Craw-; ford's grandmother, and the child whose disappearance has caused so much alarm.

Crawford showed a visitor her daughter's bedroom, with a battered white crib and a double bed. Behind the crib were several stuffed animals, including a 2-foot-high teddy bear. Crawford picked the bear up, and for the first time she had tears in her eyes. "She had a lot of toys," Crawford mumbled, and she walked out of the room. "I don't care what they're saying, I just want my baby back," she said.

"I raised 10 children here in P. T. Barnum, and I'm scared, said project resident Betty Matthews. GarreWs arrest only slightly allayed fears among tKe project residents that ike child hieen the victim of an Atlantastyle killer. was charged only with risk of injury tba minor, a charge that stemmed from the story he told police.

GBT Branches To Reopen With Protective Shields 3 1 'J mi 1 a Asked to describe Crawford, the veteran police officer hesitated, then said: "It's hard to describe her. Td have to say she was a nice girL that She's apparently confused. She doesnt know where she is at this point. Some' people think she isn't showing enough emotion, but I say everybody is different" Others say that even if Crawford had nothing to do with her child's disappearance, she was not much cf a mother to leave her baby with a man she had known only a few, months. I just can't believe that some-' thing like that would happen, where mother would leave her baby with a new boyfriend," says 31-year-old Brenda who lives a few buildings away from Crawford.

"What kind of a mother is that? You know, you sometimes can't even trust your kids with their own Crawford said Garrett used to "holler" a lot at Jovonna, but he: also Changed her diapers, fed her and cleaned the house. "He did for her just the same way I did," she said. Crawford does have some supporters people like her cousin, Delores Laws. This isn't the time for condemnation and accusations. She'll have a long time to wonder if she made a Laws said.

Crawford is aware of the gossip 71 mi KB MM 1 PACO 10; an 91 Bullet-resistant shields will separate Connecticut Bank and Trust Co. employes from their customers when two recently closed Hartford branches, reopen next week. The CBT branches at 2775 Main St. and 701 Blue Hills each of which has been robbed three times this year, will join the Unity Plaza branch of the Hartford National Bank and Trust CO. as the only local offices equipped with The two CBT offices were closed last Thursday with the permission of the state Banking Department to install new security measures.

CBT is the state's largest bank, with about 90 branches, including 11 in Hartford. Five of their Hartford i branches have been rcbbed this year, including tnose at 1U75 Asylum 100 Farmington Ave. and 760 Main St 'from belief that Crawford hefped murder her own child to the idea' that Garrett killed the child and has frightened Crawford into keeping 'quiet Some talk about bruises on Jovonna's face. Almost no one believes the child was taken by a 10-year-old boy. Asked about reports of bruises on Jovonna's face, Nerkowski says the baby was in an automobile accident with her mother about a week before her disappearance and the bruises may have been a result of that accident He added, that his department was checking into the possibility that Jovonna.

was a victim of child i In the last year, at least five other tenements managed by Alfred Prestia have been damaged or destroyed by fires later determined to have been set Each of those tenements had been cited for housing code violations. Alfred Prestia, who frequently has had bitter relations with some tenants; had publicly accused them of setting the previous fires. Thursday, however, he said he believed no tenant was to blame for the latest blaze. "There's nobody there that I'm evicting," he said. Prestia said he had been working to repair the building so it conformed with the housing code.

He said the "only violation we still had was a broken ceiling." Housing Judge Arthur L. Spada's decision on the buildings Prestia manages also stipulated that a court-appointed receiver use the $58,685 to repair the tenements. But since the suit was filed in March 1980, three of the four buildings have burned. Two tenements at 24 and 30 Talcott St were gutted by set fires. No arrests have been made in those fires.

The failure "of an armed guard's presence to foil two holdups at the Ter-: ry Square office on Main Street Erompted the decision to install the arriers, B. David Kurland, a senior CBT vice president, said. He was unable to estimate the cost, but said it was "very expensive." The guard had been hired after a January robbery. Barriers extend from the counter-tops to the ceilings to prevent would-be robbers from getting behind the tellers' windows. Most of the 13 Hartford bank robberies this year involved one or more, persons vaulting the low counters to get to the cash.

The Terry Square office tentatively is set to reopen Wednesday and the Blue Hills Avenue branch Thursday, but each might be delayed an extra day, Kurland said. NOT A ONE-SHOT DEAL! A lot of banks give away placemats, candles, dishes, etc. during certain periods. But when the promotion is over, so is your chance of earning a bonus. But Bonus Dollars is an ongoing' program.

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TRACY Courant Staff Writer BRIDGEPORT Ronald Garrett drifted into Mary Crawford's life about three months ago and into her apartment four weeks later. The unemployed itinerant used to help Crawford care for her 12-' month-old daughter. He was babysitting for the girl last Friday afternoon. 4' The child has not been seen since, and Garrett has been arrested in connection with her disappearance. Police said Thursday Crawford found a blood-stained towel In her bathroom; The purple bath towel is being tested at the state police laboratory in Meriden to determine if the spots are human blood and, if so, -the blood type.

I Lt Frank Nerkowski said the lab told him it is "SO percent certain the spots are: human blood." They do not yet know the blood types of Garrett, Crawford or the child. -V The disappearance: of Jovonna Crawford has stirred residents of the P.T. Bamum housing project. The day. after she vanished, about 200 residents helped1 authorities comb the i area and some of their thoughts turned 1,000 miles south.

"You just don't know how much this reminds me of Atlanta," said' the child's great aunt, who recently, moved here from the Georgia cap-ital where 28 biack youths have been killed in -almost as many months. 1 "1 raised 10 children here in P.T. Barnum, and I'm scared," said pro-v ject resident Betty Matthews: Garrett's arrest Tuesday after- noon only; slightly allayed fears among the! 2,000 project residents that the child had been the victim of an Atlanta-style killers He was charged only with risk of injury to a minor, a charge that stemmed from the story he told police. Garrett said he had given the tod-, dler to a boy, who looked about 10 or 11 years old, after the youth told him he was to take the child to her grandmother's home. He said he did not ask the boy's name and was not sure he would recognize him again.

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