NEW YORK (AP) — The mother of three young girls who died during a Christmas morning fire along with their grandparents told mourners that the girls live in her heart now.
Madonna Badger's voice broke Thursday as she spoke at their funeral: "My girls are in my heart. They're right here. And that's where they live now."
Badger wailed as she followed the three coffins out of the church. She was accompanied by her estranged husband, Matthew Badger.
The pallbearers were 18 firefighters from Stamford, Conn., who responded to the fire. Among the more than 500 people attending the service in New York City were fashion designers Calvin Klein and Vera Wang, rocker Lou Reed and actor Philip Seymour Hoffman.
Madonna Badger, is a fashion advertising executive who worked on Calvin Klein campaigns.
Authorities say embers in a bag of discarded fireplace ashes started the deadly blaze. Badger's parents were also killed.
