Beverly rooming house fire

The fire occurred in the Elliott Chambers, an 80-year-old, three-story wooden frame building with 34 rooms on the top two floors and businesses on the first. The rooming house was owned by David and Pauline Faxler and managed by 73-year-old Hattie Whary. It was valued between $100,000 and $150,000. It had working smoke detectors, fire extinguishers, and emergency lights, and a fire escape, but did not contain firewalls, fire stops, or sprinklers. According to the city's mayor, building inspector, and fire chief it met the minimum standards for safety. ==Fire==

The fire broke out around 4 a.m. on July 4, 1984. The Beverly Fire Department responded within two minutes of receiving the alarm. The final victims were not identified until July 8 when doctors were able to identify them using dental and x-ray records. On August 5, the fire's fifteenth victim died at Brigham and Women's Hospital from burn injuries. ==Investigation==

On July 5, 1984, state Public Safety Secretary Charles V. Barry announced that a preliminary investigation indicated the cause of the fire was arson. According to investigators, the fire was caused by gasoline-soaked newspapers being lit in an alcove adjacent to the front entrance to the rooming house. ==Trials==

On May 4, 1988, nearly four years after the fire, Carver was arrested. He pleaded not guilty to 15 counts of second-degree murder, 15 counts of assault and battery with intent to murder, and one count of arson. Carver's trial began on March 7, 1989. On March 24, Judge Peter F. Brady declared a mistrial based on a motion from Carver's attorney, Dennis F. Jackson, who contended that the prosecution had violated discovery procedures by not providing him with an incriminating statement a witness had given to police until the trial was already underway. District Attorney Kevin M. Burke called Brady's decision "inappropriate" and "unjust" and declared that his office would "vigorously reprosecute" the case. Carver's second trial was held in November 1989. The prosecution alleged that in October 1984, Carver told a friend that he set the fire and how he did so, and in November 1986 told a co-worker that he lit the fire but was going to get away with it. The prosecution also presented a witness who testified that a day before the fire Carver had threatened Rick Nickerson, the Elliott Chambers resident who had gone out with Carver's ex-girlfriend. Carver's parents contended that he was home in bed when the fire occurred. On November 22, 1989, Carver was found guilty of murder and arson. He was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences to be served as the maximum-security Massachusetts Correctional Institution – Cedar Junction with eligibility for parole after 30 years. ==Later legal proceedings==

Carver became eligible for parole in 2018 but declined to seek it because he did not want to accept responsibility for a crime he says he did not commit. In 2020, citing a history of cardiovascular disease, skin cancer, and depression, along with using a wheelchair due to dizziness, vertigo, tremors and seizures he suffered following brain surgery, as well as being diagnosed with prostate cancer (which he was refusing treatment for), Carver sought a medical parole on the grounds that he was "highly likely" to become incapacitated if he contracted COVID-19. His petition was denied by the state commissioner of corrections and the decision was upheld by a Superior Court judge. In 2023, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court upheld the corrections commissioner's decision. In 2022, attorneys from the state public defender's office and Boston College Law School's Innocence Program petitioned for a new trial, arguing that modern fire science shows there was no evidence the fire was started with gasoline and that it might have been accidental. In 2024, Carver was granted a retrial and released on personal recognizance. The Essex County district attorney's office appealed the ruling. In February 2025, Carver's conviction was formally overturned, with the judge citing advances in eyewitness science and fire investigation techniques as the most compelling factors in such a ruling. It remains unclear if the Essex County district attorney's office is still pursuing appeals, seeking to re-try Carver, or investigating other possible causes of the fire. ==Effect on building codes==

In the wake of the fire, Mayor F. John Monahan called on the state legislature to strengthen the state's fire code. However, in 1986 the legislature passed a bill that gave local governments the option to require automatic sprinklers in buildings occupied by six or more unrelated people. During the early 1980s, the state saw an average of between seven and nine fire deaths per year in rooming houses. After the law was passed, this number decreased quickly, with zero deaths occurring in 1992. As of 2014, 134 of the state's 351 municipalities have adopted the measure. ==Memorial==

The Elliott Chambers building was rebuilt into a two-story professional office building. ==See also==