When flames broke out at a Long Island rental home in 2022, the family staying there said no fire alarms went off. Now, the rental owners have pleaded guilty to charges associated with the deadly fire.
Sisters Lindsay Wiener, 19, and Jillian Wiener, 21, died in a nearby hospital following the fire.
The owners who rented out the vacation house appeared in Suffolk County District Court on Monday. Peter Miller, 56, pleaded guilty to two counts of criminal negligent homicide and his wife, Pamela Miller, 55, pleaded guilty to reckless endangerment in the second degree.
Following the fire, an investigation of the vacation home found 29 code violations. Many of those violations were related to electrical errors within an outdoor kitchen where the fire began and faulty smoke detectors that reportedly failed to alert the sleeping family, according to a news release from the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office.
What happened?
The Wiener family was on vacation together on Aug. 3, 2022, when flames broke out inside the home they were renting in Long Island, New York.
The night before the fire, the family tried to cook dinner outside on a charcoal grill attached to the house. The food wasn’t cooking, so the family closed up the grill and moved inside to prepare dinner instead, according to the district attorney’s office.
Around four hours after the family went to bed, Lewis and Alisa Wiener, the parents of the deceased, “woke up to the sound of glass shattering,” according to the news release.
“When they left their bedroom to investigate, they saw fire in the kitchen and screamed for their children to get out of the house,” the news release stated.
The parents were able to escape, but Lewis went back inside to look for his kids, leaving again after becoming overwhelmed by the flames. He was left with burns on his feet.
Their son, Zach, went searching through the smoky conditions for his sisters, but was forced to jump out a second-story window after being trapped in his bedroom, according to the news release.
Lindsay and Jillian were found dead by firefighters on the second floor. The rest of the family suffered injuries that were not considered to be life threatening, authorities said.
An outdoor kitchen (without permits)
The fire started in the outdoor kitchen, which investigators said the Millers built without getting the proper permit.
“The outdoor kitchen was mostly made of wood with low hanging wood ceilings that sat above the charcoal grill and gas stove,” the news release said.
The kitchen wasn’t inspected to make sure its electrical components were safe for cooking.
“The bottom grill vents of the charcoal grill were completely blocked by an attached counter, and the electrical circuits that the outdoor kitchen shared with the indoor kitchen were overloaded and improperly wired,” according to the district attorney’s office.
Smoke alarms (without backup batteries)
Prosecutors said the rental house was advertised online as having smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. But the family said they didn’t hear any fire alarms the night Lindsay and Jillian died.
Smoke detectors in two second-floor bedrooms didn’t go off because of overloaded electrical circuits. They didn’t have a backup battery, the news release said.
And a smoke detector in the bedroom the parents stayed in was disconnected.
According to prosecutors, some of the code violations included failing to apply for a rental permit, assuring smoke alarms were connected properly and installing an electrical outlet without a proper electrical box.
The Wiener sisters
The sisters were alumna of Holton-Arms School for Girls in Bethesda, with Jillian graduating in 2019 and Lindsay in 2021.
Jillian was headed into her senior year at the University of Michigan, while Lindsay was going to be a sophomore at Tulane University.
“First and foremost, our hearts go out to the Wiener family, who lost these young women in this tragic fire. Such a loss is unimaginable, and our community mourns with them,” said District Attorney Tierney.
The sisters and their family were members of the Washington Hebrew Congregation in D.C.
At the time of the fire, their father Lewis had recently taken over the position of president of the congregation. According to the temple, Lewis died from pancreatic cancer on April 29, 2024.
The Millers are set to appear in court again Nov. 7.
WTOP’s Abigail Constantino contributed to this report.
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