The day before the Winters youngsters died, three other children perished in another house fire 50 miles to the north and east of Hyde Lake. The remote house of Pam and Leo Gotham in Russell was destroyed and three Gotham children -- Richard, 13; Patty, 9 and Xann Mae, 5 -- were killed.
Pam Gotham, their mother, was a friend of Shirley Baron. She used to baby-sit for the Barons in Syracuse before she married and moved to the North Country in 1971.
Sheriff Keith Knowlton of St. Lawrence County answered the fire call at the Gothams in 1979. His investigation pointed to a piece of hot kindling left near the wood stove as the cause. When he recently learned about the Winters connection, he reopened his closed case.
The Gothams, who live in DeKalb Junction, were interviewed. Mrs. Gotham said Shirley had visited her at the house in Russell, usually while she stayed at Hyde Lake. No, she hadn't been there before the fire. Indeed, the Gothams said they didn't think it odd their friend's children died the day after theirs.
She's had a hard life and bad luck, they explained. She'd never set any fires.
``We don't see any connection between the two fires,'' Paul Johnson said.
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