Mother of twins killed in fire distraught with first phone call she answered
Heather Ace was hanging out at a friend's house drinking Four Loko* the night of May 20 when her mother tried to call her and tell her that her house on Bank Street Road was on fire, according to a statement Ace gave to investigators.
When Ace didn't answer the phone, her mother sent her a text message, according to a statement by Tracy Ace, that read, "Answer your f---ing phone."
Heather answered on the next ring.
According to Heather's friend, Ashki Zajaczkowski, Heather dropped the phone and started screaming.
Zajaczkowski drove Heather to 8157 State Street Road, Batavia, where she lived with her three boys, including two fraternal twins, Micah and Michael Gard, and before Zajaczkowski would even stop the car, Heather was running from the car hysterically.
The evening wasn't supposed to go as it did, according to the statements. Heather Ace was planning to go to the movies with Zajaczkowski and other friends, but as afternoon turned to evening, nobody really felt like heading out of town.
Ace put her two children to bed sometime between 8 and 8:30 p.m. and then headed over to a friend's house. She smoked some weed and then went to the Speedway and bought a can of Four Loko and some water before heading over to Zajaczkowski's house.
The two boys were locked in their room, with a lock on the kitchen side of the door put in place after the boys wandered out of the house over to the neighboring house, the residence of their grandparents.
When firefighters arrived that night, they also found the door leading into the apartment kitchen locked. Heather Ace said in her statement, she didn't know how the door became locked. She said she didn't lock it before leaving the house. Tracy Ace said it wasn't Heather's practice to lock the door because her husband needed access to the basement, where he stored his tools.
The cause of the fire has never been determined.
Micah and Michael died in the fire and Heather Ace has been charged with endangering the welfare of a child.
She appeared in Town of Batavia Court yesterday and entered a not guilty plea.
She is represented by public defender Jerry Ader, who said yesterday he had not yet had a chance to discuss the case with his client.
Photo: Previously unpublished, officers dealing with distraught people at the scene of the fire.
*Four Loko is a flavored, malted alcoholic beverage.
