Three times the tragedy / LJWorld.com

Lawrence and Douglas county

By Mike Belt, Chad Lawhorn, Sophia Maines, Scott Rothschild

October 16, 2005

One was a Kansas University senior. One was an electrician. And one was a social worker. Yet all three had one thing in common. Nicole Bingham, Jose Gonzalez and Yolanda Riddle died during the early morning hours of Oct. 7 when a devastating fire engulfed the 76-unit building they lived in at the Boardwalk Apartments in the 500 block of Fireside Drive.

The three victims left behind many family members and friends who were willing to tell the Journal-World about their lives and interests and how they affected those around them. Memorial services were Friday for Riddle and Saturday for Gonzalez. A service for Bingham will be 6 p.m. Tuesday at Lawrence Free Methodist Church, 3001 Lawrence Ave.

Meanwhile, Jason Allen Rose, 20, who lived in the same building, is being held in Douglas County Jail in connection with three counts of first-degree murder and one count of aggravated arson. He was arrested three days after the fire.

Nicole Bingham

Nicole kept a card in her wallet in case of emergency. It had the details of her heart defect. Six years ago she had open heart surgery. And the specter of death still followed her.

Nicole's heart didn't fail her. A deadly fire did.

Nicole Bingham, a Kansas University senior, was one of three who died in the Oct. 7 Boardwalk Apartments fire.

Special to the Journal-World

KU student Nicole Bingham is pictured at a Royals game with friend Luke Grover. Services for Bingham will be Tuesday.

It took five days for officials to confirm her death, but family and friends knew they'd lost Nicole on the same day they first saw the decimated building.

"I already knew," Luke Grover, a friend, said. He sat outside his fraternity house on a chilly evening last week. He wore flip-flops and jeans. As the sun faded, he stared at the yard ahead of him and recalled what he could about his best friend.

"It's always helpful to talk about Nicole," he said. "She's never really gone as long as you're talking about her."

Grover, a Kansas University senior, should be in classes. He should be working. But he's spent some of the last few days feeling numb.

Wednesday would have been Nicole's 22nd birthday. She had planned to go on a pub crawl. Grover didn't leave his room that day. He lay on his bed and stared at the ceiling.

'BFF'

Four years ago, they met. Both were freshmen. It was the first day of classes.

"Nice shoes," she told him in a chance meeting at a bus stop. Their sandals were similar. His, the cheap kind. Hers, a bit fancier.

He was quiet. A newbie to campus. Nicole, from Wichita, was open and friendly. In time, a friendship blossomed.

And they did what college kids do.

Late at night, after an evening out in the old days, Grover would stop at Nicole's dorm room for Corn Pops.

Nicole Bingham

Or they watched movies. She loved "The Big Chill" and "A League of Their Own." Grover watched the baseball movie more times than he would like.

Nicole's heart melted for Big Bird. She slept with a stuffed Big Bird every night and adored the toy so much that one time Grover drove to Wichita to retrieve it after she'd mistakenly left it behind. Grover, like many of Nicole's friends has had to watch a movie about Big Bird's adventures.

On down days, they headed to Steak 'n Shake for cheese fries.

When she started school, Nicole wasn't sure what she wanted to be. She later became a history major and that seemed to fit. She loved the books "The Most Evil Women in History" and "The Most Evil Men and Women in History." If she read a juicy part, she'd make Grover read it, too.

Nicole's heart defect affected her. She could tire easily. She couldn't overexert herself. There were visits to doctors and the hospital. She lived with the understanding she could die anytime.

Grover liked how Nicole spoke her mind. If she thought Grover looked pudgy, she told him.

"She was pretty much the most honest person I ever met in my life," he said.

Boardwalk Apartments Fire

More on the Boardwalk Apartments Fire

Grover and Nicole dated for a time. But they discovered they made better friends. Best friends. As they called it: BFF, best friends forever.

The last time

Grover stopped at Nicole's apartment two days before the fire. He had borrowed her air purifier and she wanted it back. He dropped it off. She ate Chinese food. She watched her favorite television shows. They hung out.

Two days later, Grover received an early-morning call from one of Nicole's co-workers at Kansas Union. Nicole hadn't shown up for work. There had been a fire at her apartment building.

Grover sent Nicole a text message. No response.

He called her. Her phone was off.

Maybe she had class, he thought. But he didn't know her schedule.

He went to the apartments. No Nicole.

He went to the Red Cross Center. She hadn't checked in. But there were more than a dozen unaccounted for.

"I just figured that she was all right and probably lost her phone in the fire," he said.

Grover went to Lawrence Memorial Hospital. She hadn't checked in.

With worry mounting, he called Nicole's mother, Nancy, in Wichita.

Nancy had planned on coming up for the weekend, bringing family. She left the family behind and headed for Lawrence.

"I didn't know what to do, so I just started calling people," Grover said.

He called Nicole's friends in Wichita. He stayed at his house and waited.

"I was really concerned about my friend," he said.

Detectives stopped by. They asked questions. They didn't offer any information.

Grover went back to the Red Cross, where Nancy Bingham was. The terrible knowledge was setting in.

"She had that 1,000-mile stare," he said of Nancy. "She just kind of had a stone look on her face."

It was hard for Grover to listen to Nancy's Bingham's voice. He could already sense the loss in it.

When he left the building, he sat in his car and broke down. He had lost faith Nicole was OK.

"It just all kind of hit me at once," he said. "I already knew."

No accident

On Tuesday, police announced they had arrested 20-year-old Jason Allen Rose. He was later charged with arson and murder in the death of Nicole and two others.

Grover listened to the press conference on the radio. The news that the fire wasn't an accident didn't make him angry. It made him sick. He cried again. For the rest of the day, he felt like he was going to throw up.

"The fact that someone actually started it just made it a lot harder," he said.

But Grover doesn't judge Rose. He'll leave Rose to the courts.

He has questions. But, so what? It doesn't really matter.

"My friend is still gone," he said. "The answers to my questions aren't going to bring her back."

Jose Gonzalez

When people who knew Jose Gilberto Gonzalez are asked to describe him, there is no hesitation.

"He was a free spirit," said his sister, Maria Gonzalez.

"Excellent guy. All the way around," said Dale Wolford, project manager and co-worker at Quality Electric Inc., 1011 E. 31st St.

Photo by Mike Yoder

A photograph of Jose Gonzalez surrounded by flowers was displayed at a memorial service for the 50-year-old Lawrence resident who died in last Friday's fire at Boardwalk Apartments. Services were Saturday at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church

Jose Gonzalez, 50, was one of three people who died in the Boardwalk Apartments fire Oct. 7. He was remembered with a mixture of songs, prayers and tears Saturday morning during a memorial Mass at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church.

"Let us recognize that Jose is there in eternal life waiting for us, and he also is very much here with us," the Rev. John Schmeidler said.

Identification of his remains could take weeks, but authorities have unofficially told the family that he died in the blaze, Maria Gonzalez said.

"They are 99 percent sure. This gives us some closure," she said shortly before the memorial service.

Family from South Texas, Hawaii and Kansas gathered in Lawrence for the service.

"It's just a bad time for us, but the service was good," Maria Gonzalez said.

Jose Gonzalez was born in Edinburg, Texas, attended Catholic schools and graduated from St. Anthony's High School in San Antonio. He had two sisters and five brothers.

Jose Gonzalez.

He moved around often and was married once but that didn't last, his sister said.

Gonzalez had no children, but he was a wonderful uncle, she said.

"He traveled around a lot. He liked to hang out, play pool, and he loved sports," Maria said.

He came to Lawrence about three and a half years ago and worked as an apprentice electrician at Quality Electric.

"He had really settled down," Maria said.

Wolford said Gonzalez was a hard worker, easy going and friendly.

"He worked mostly residential. He knew what he was doing," he said.

Maria said her brother's death was especially painful because authorities now say the fire was deliberately set.

Jason Allen Rose, a 20-year-old resident of the apartments, has been charged in connection with the fire.

"If indeed it turns out it was him, may God forgive him," Maria Gonzalez said, "because he took a lot of lives."

Yolanda Riddle

Yolanda Riddle had all the classroom credentials to be a good social worker: an associate of arts degree from Haskell Indian Nations University, a bachelor's degree in social welfare from Kansas University and a master's from Washington University in St. Louis.

But Riddle's friends said her best skills as a social worker weren't those learned from a textbook but were instead the product of her big heart.

Special to the Journal-World

Yolanda Riddle, right, is shown with her sister, Bobbie Affani, a week before the fire. Services for Riddle were Friday.

"She would come over and give you a big hug exactly when you needed one," said Hank Sipple, a Lawrence foster parent with whom Riddle was assigned to work.

Riddle worked as a child welfare specialist for Social and Rehabilitation Services in the agency's Ottawa office.

"She had lots of talents that you couldn't learn in school," said Susana Mariscal, who was training with Riddle to be a volunteer at Women's Transitional Care Services. "She had a quality of being that was difficult to find."

Some members of her family are just now learning the full extent of Riddle's compassion because she seldom spoke of her job.

"I've heard some stories," said Bobbie Affani, Riddle's older sister. "I didn't know we had a saint."

There was the time, for example, when Riddle was working with a young boy scheduled to sing in a Christmas pageant. The boy didn't want to sing; when the time came, Riddle stood up in the audience so he could focus on her and ignore the rest of the audience.

Yolanda Riddle

"He sang to her," Affani said.

Such stories make it more difficult for Affani to contemplate the manner of her sister's death in the Boardwalk Apartments fire. Authorities have charged a 20-year-old man, a product of the foster care system, with starting the blaze.

"I cannot make sense of that," Affani said. "I don't know how my sister would've felt about that. She saw a lot, but she didn't discuss a lot."

Riddle was born March 1, 1972, in Wichita, the daughter of Bobbie J. Riddle and Helen Phillips. Survivors include her father, Wichita; Affani; and a half-sister Wendy Phillips, Long Beach, Calif.

Riddle was a member of the Dine Indian Nation.

Riddle's "bubbly" personality and free spirit were hallmarks, several friends said.

"The first thing that comes to mind when I think of Yolanda is not a word, but a smile," said Dan Wildcat, a Haskell professor who taught Riddle. "The first thing I do is smile when I think about her. If you think of another person and they bring a smile to your face, what a tremendous gift they have left you."

Discussion

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16 October 2005
at 6:06 a.m.

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Hong_Kong_Phooey (Anonymous) says…

Jason Allen Rose should be given the death penalty. I don't really care if it deters crime or not. The purpose is in the name: penalty. You kill 3 people and that's it. Game over. No taxpayers paying for a waste of flesh to live out their days in prison.
16 October 2005
at 7:57 a.m.

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SteelHorseRider (Anonymous) says…

Oh no, we should rehabilitate, don't you think?
16 October 2005
at 10:17 a.m.

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peachesncream (Anonymous) says…

my heart goes out to each and every family memeber and friend who lost one of these precious people in this fire.This man ( thats too good of a word for the slime) does need help but it sounds as though he needed help long before this ever happened. but with our court systems he will get 10 years , and be out it 8 months to a year so he can kill someone else …but yet someone who does a crime thats not NEARLY as bad will sit in jail for years and years…. now tell me where that makes sense people..??..
16 October 2005
at 10:39 a.m.

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misplacedcheesehead (Anonymous) says…

I suppose I might get shot for what I'm about to say.

I cry for the families who lost their loved ones in this fire. It's almost incomprehensible that a person could have no regard for other human life.

And like the some of the other readers, I think the death penalty would be appropriate for the person who started the fire.

Gulp. I would just beg for all of us to let the police et prosecutor present their evidence, and let a jury of peers decide if Jason Rose is guilty or not.
All I'm saying is that sometimes the wrong person is convicted. Notice I said sometimes. If Jason is guilty, let justice be done. But if, IF, this is one of those rare instances where the wrong person is arrested for the crime, I just pray for the truth to come out.

Hey, IF he's guilty, there's a punishment available which would be worse than death. Put him in the same cell as Marty Miller. Speaking of which, that piece of garbage should have also received the death penalty!
16 October 2005
at 12:33 p.m.

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christie (Anonymous) says…

The Death Penalty DOES deter crime.
It deters the person put to death from committing more crimes. There is always the possibility that the person may escape, or kill inside of prison.
16 October 2005
at 1:32 p.m.

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grubesteak (Anonymous) says…

I realize this doesn've have anything to do with the awful event of the fire, but I'm anal, so I'll bring it up.

Isn't Associated Press style to use the last name? Why is Nicole Bingham's first name used but Gonzalez's and Riddle's last names are used. Who edited this story, anyway?

Sorry, I'm an old newsguy.
16 October 2005
at 3:01 p.m.

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jimincountry (Anonymous) says…

Powerful presentation of what Nicole's life meant to her friend! What a tragedy! Who ever wrote this piece made us all feel her friend's loss. Must've been really hard for Nicole's family after all they had been through with her and her health problems– not fair.

16 October 2005
at 7:53 p.m.

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doc1 (Anonymous) says…

well some gangster got 6 years for brutally shooting and killing Mr. Sanders numerous times on 25th street, therefore at least in Douglas County he might only get 18 years.

Wait nevermind we have a good D.A. now.
16 October 2005
at 9:02 p.m.

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Sigmund (Anonymous) says…

Goodbye Nicole, Jose and Yolanda. May God give comfort and peace to your families and friends.
16 October 2005
at 9:54 p.m.

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pt (Anonymous) says…

For a country that prides itself in liberty & justice, its citizens sure are quick to judge. I am by no means exonerating rose, but “innocent until proven guilty” is not just a catch phrase. Judging before trial sets up a dictatorship and a society run on hate; lets at least wait until the courts reveal something before we condemn a man to death.
17 October 2005
at 2:45 a.m.

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LawrenceMommy (Anonymous) says…

If Rose is guilty I hope he pays an appropriate price. But I am just so concerned about the “investigation” they did and whether they really have a guilty person in custody. I don't know the subject at all. All I know is what I have read, along with everyone else. But I know it usually takes days, if not weeks, to thoroughly process an arson scene and determine what accelerants, if any, were used, and why and where it was started. The investigation they did was so quick, along with the resulting arrest, that it makes one wonder if they did a thorough one or were just eager to find someone to blame. I truly hope they have the right person and, if not, that the truth comes out in the trial.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't a previous article state that they started cleaning up the scene (ie. destroying any remaining evidence) the day after they made the arrest? I hope their desire for swift justice doesn't result in the truth being destroyed with the cleanup.

May all of the victims rest in peace. I hope God will provide all of their friends and families with the peace and strength they need to get through these times.
17 October 2005
at 10:03 p.m.

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sillygirl (Anonymous) says…

My dear friend Yolanda - not a day has gone by that I've not thought about you or cried tears for you….. As one of your friends and co-workers, I personally know how many lives you touched and how hard you worked to show each family & child your caring heart and attention. You are sadly missed - we will be here to help carry on all of the good deeds you had worked towards. Many people have said and will continue to say terrible things about the foster care system - for those people that say terrible things, I will ask them that one question: what are you doing to help your area youth? God bless you Yolanda - I hope you know you where dearly appreciated and loved by many! I still look at your picture and just can't put reality to this terrible tragedy - I just can't believe you are no longer here - no will we no longer hear your bubbly voice nor see your beautiful smile………
7 November 2005
at 11:02 a.m.

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Sigmund (Anonymous) says…

This comment was removed by the site staff for violation of the usage agreement.
12 November 2005
at 2:01 p.m.

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HeresToYou (Anonymous) says…

You know personally I agree with all of you who think that the Lawerence and Douglas County law officals made too fast of a decision and I too read where the officals began to clean up the scene and rebuild just a day after the arrest was made. Hey correct me if I'm wrong here but doesn't it take often times weeks and weeks to determine what started the fire and how it started and where it started and if it was truly arson? Now I have to ask this how in the world do you find out that a fire was arson based and make an arrest in just a matter of a couple days? I mean if this piece of trailer trash did do it then I think he should get the needle or wait better yet let's put him in a building and set it on fire and let him feel what his three victims felt, but then again I hate people that take other's lives for no reason. But there's my opinon on the whole thing is just let justice be served no matter what.