Juvenile charged
for fire death

An Oxford Circle girl last week admitted to setting the March 2006 house fire that killed her police officer father.
Following the July 24 confession, Family Court Judge Abram Frank Reynolds found Brittany Talington, 14, delinquent of second-degree murder and arson, and ordered her to a Virginia juvenile rehabilitation facility, the Pines Residential Treatment Center, for an undetermined length of time.
During last week’s court hearing, Talington claimed she was trying to commit suicide when she piled clothing and paper on the first floor of her home at 6049 Loretto Ave., doused it in a flammable liquid and set it ablaze.
Her father, 32-year-old Tyrone Talington, died of smoke inhalation. Investigators found his body in the dining room and believe that he was searching the burning home for his daughter when he collapsed.
Authorities arrested Brittany, then 12, and initially charged her as an adult. They said an argument between the parent and daughter led to the girl’s actions. After setting the fire, the girl fled the house with her cat in her arms, investigators said.
Brittany Talington denied knowing that her father was home at the time. Her mother lived elsewhere.
A neighbor reported the blaze at 4:23 a.m. Firefighters declared it under control about 15 minutes later. A fire department spokesman said that a smoke alarm in the home had no battery.
Tyrone Talington was a nine-year police veteran assigned to the 14th district in Northwest Philadelphia.
It is normal practice for the District Attorney’s Office to charge juvenile murder defendants as adults. On July 9, Common Pleas Court Judge Benjamin Lerner moved Talington’s case to juvenile court. The court can supervise the girl until she turns 21. ••