Madonna Badger, Woman Who Lost Family in Christmas Day Fire, Remarries

Madonna Badger, the former fashion executive whose three daughters and her parents perished in a Christmas Day 2011 fire in Stamford, has remarried.

Badger announced on her Facebook page Thursday, "We did it! Bill and I eloped today! — with William Duke." She posted two photos of the couple standing outside a church that she wrote was in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY.

Badger's July 24 Facebook post has received hundreds of congratulatory comments from well-wishers. "Congratulations to you both and God Bless You Both," wrote one. 

The conflagration of Badger's 2267 Shippan Ave. home in the Shippan neighborhood on Stamford's waterfront broke out early Christmas Day 2011. Her parents Lomer and Pauline Johnson of Southbury, and her daughters, 9-year-old Lily and 7-year-old twins Grace and Sarah, died in the blaze, that began just before 5 a.m.

Fire officials ruled that the fire that destroyed the home, built in 1895 and undergoing extensive renovations, began when hot embers from a fireplace where placed in a receptacle in a mudroom. The only survivors were Badger and her then-boyfriend, contractor Michael Borcina, who officials said had to be restrained from trying to reenter the blaze in an attempt rescue the victims.

At the time, Badger was estranged from the girls' father, Matthew Badger.

There are pending legal actions against the city of Stamford related to the fire and the city's decision to raze the home the day after the tragedy.

In an article she wrote for Vogue magazine in December 2013, Badger recounted what happened that Christmas Day and how Duke was one of three friends she had known since college came to comfort her at Stamford Hospital where she was treated for her injuries.

After living in Little Rock, AR for about a year, Badget decided to return to New York City where she had worked as a fashion executive, and contacted Duke, a real estate broker in the city, to help find an apartment. They eventually began dating and in the Vogue article, she announced their engagement and plans to marry this September.

Instead, the couple eloped.