Cause of Fire in Car That Crashed Sought

Dec. 27, 2003
Investigators were trying to determine Friday how a fire started in a car that crashed into a home, killing a man and his two children.

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- Investigators were trying to determine Friday how a fire started in a car that crashed into a home, killing a man and his two children.

Shahab Behzadpour, 46, crashed his Ford Crown Victoria into a pillar of his in-laws' home in Altamonte Springs on Christmas Day. The car exploded into a fireball, killing Behzadpour, his 6-year-old daughter, Nikki, and 3-year-old son, Sammi.

Neither the car nor the suburban Orlando house were badly damaged by the crash itself, raising questions about whether the fire had been set inside the car before the crash, said Altamonte Springs spokesman Jack Harrison.

Behzadpour was supposed to have turned the children over to his estranged wife. Investigators did not say whether the crash was deliberate.

``There wasn't enough damage to the car to say he wanted to crash into the house,'' Harrison said.

Meanwhile, details emerged about the bitter divorce between Shahab Behzadpour, and his wife, Hope.

The two had gone before a judge earlier this month to argue over who could be with the children on Christmas Day. The judge ordered that they split Christmas with the children.

Earlier in the year, Hope Behzadpour had sought a protective injunction against her husband, saying she feared for herself and her children, and that her husband had threatened to take their lives. A judge denied the request in September, saying there was not enough evidence.

Hope Behzadpour also said in court papers that she suspected her husband had sexually abused their daughter.

She took her daughter to a hospital, and a hospital physician notified sheriff's deputies and the state child-protection agency, Hope Behzadpour said in court papers.

Department of Children & Families spokesman Bob Brooks said Friday he wasn't allowed to comment on whether the agency had opened an investigation.

In court papers, Shahab Behzadpour denied the sexual abuse allegations and said his wife had told him she would make up charges against him to get him out of their house if he didn't leave voluntarily

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