20 years ago today: It was their last morning, but they didn't know it. Read their stories
Twenty years ago this morning — Thursday, March 13, 2003 — Megan McDonald woke up in the new apartment she’d had for just a couple of weeks and headed off to work the lunch shift at the American Café restaurant in the Galleria mall in Wallkill.
Twenty years ago this morning, the Velez family began their day on Nodine Hill in Yonkers. There was breakfast to make in their basement apartment, and school and work to get to. And there was the baby, Vaniya, to care for. Just 8 months old, the baby needed extra attention.
By the time the sun rose in Orange County the next morning, McDonald had vanished. Her lifeless body would be discovered off a remote road on March 15.
By the time the sun rose in Westchester County the next morning, 175 firefighters had fanned all over the Velezes’ neighborhood, fighting a fire that had consumed 14 buildings and left more than 200 people homeless. Four members of the Velez family were in the hospital by daybreak: Brian, Peter and his wife, Vanessa, and little Vaniya. Pedro and Julia Elena Velez were found dead, in each other’s arms, unable to escape the flames.
One night — the same night — would see them vanish.
Megan McDonald's story, in 19 images
The disappearance of the girl with the megawatt smile has gripped Orange County in the 20 years since, with $20,000 in reward offered for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the case. The McDonald family still awaits the final answer. State Police investigators say they’re closing in on her killer. Read the latest on the Megan McDonald case. (2024 update: Listen to our "Bad Blood" series and follow the exhaustive timeline of the case, with an arrest.)
The Oak Street fire, in 18 images
The Velez family got all the wrong answers in the days and weeks to come, in the form of five caskets. Pedro and Julia Elena. Then Vanessa. Then Peter. Then Brian. A sixth would follow years later.
Yonkers largely moved on from the Oak Street fire, although it lives on in the memories of those who fought it, and in the broken heart of one remaining member of the family. Read the story of the Oak Street fire.
But 20 years ago one morning, this morning, it was just another day ahead of them.
Their last day.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: 20 years ago Megan McDonald was killed and family died in Yonkers fire
