Woman charged with arson for allegedly setting historic Berwyn home on fire, police say

By Tom Ignudo, Joe Brandt

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    BERWYN, Pennsylvania (KDKA) — A Chester County woman was charged for deliberately setting a fire at a historic Main Line home on Tuesday morning.

Easttown Township Police charged Kathryn Frankel with arson, risking catastrophe and other related offenses on Wednesday after a fire broke out at a home in Berwyn at 400 Leopard Road.

It’s the second fire at the home since May. The cause of that earlier fire was listed as “undetermined,” according to police. Authorities haven’t charged Frankel in connection with that fire.

On Tuesday at about 10:45 a.m., authorities said police and fire were dispatched to the house fire at the three-story, 4,506-square-foot building as smoke spread throughout the home.

Before the fire, Frankel told police she was at the home with her estranged husband and public adjuster to determine what property could be salvaged following the first fire in May.

After Frankel’s estranged husband and public adjuster left, police said Frankel told investigators she was sitting by the pool when she heard a noise in the house. She told police she then went to check out the noise through the mud room and was “confronted with fire between the mud room and the kitchen.”

Police said before Frankel went to the hospital to be checked out, she had soot covering her hands and shirt and that her hair was scorched by the blaze.

Authorities said the public adjuster told police that he didn’t see or smell anything that would indicate a fire was happening. The home also didn’t have power. The public adjuster told police that he navigated the property with a flashlight.

At the hospital, a paramedic told police Frankel’s nose hairs were burnt by fire. She also told the paramedic “I don’t know what happened,” and said it was some sort of “explosion.”

At around 10:45 a.m., police said a neighbor across the street saw Frankel walking around the home and talking to herself as smoke exited the house. The neighbor allegedly heard Frankel say: “How does this happen twice, I need to get stuff out of the house.”

Another neighbor told investigators they heard someone banging on a window of the home at the time the fire was discovered. The neighbor said she looked out the window and saw Frankel “shouting frantically” into her cellphone, according to police. Authorities said records show Frankel called 911 and others.

Police said the Chester County Assistant Fire Marshal found a cigarette lighter near the pool during the investigation. Police also confiscated Frankel’s clothing and a K9 dog noticed the presence of “ignitable liquids” on the clothing, according to authorities.

“Due to [Kathryn] Frankel being the only person present in the home at the time of the fire, the fact that Frankel had the appearance of being in close proximity to a fire, including soot and singed head and nose hairs, the presence of a lighter at the scene, the K9 alerting to the presence of ignitable liquids on the clothing of Kathryn Frankel, the house being de-energized, this being the second fire at this residence that occurred while Frankel was present, your Affiant has probable cause to believe that [Kathryn] Frankel started a fire inside the residence at 400 Leopard Road,” an affidavit read.

According to real estate listings, the home was once known as Breeze Hill and was part of the estate of the prominent Sharp family. The family’s Joseph W. Sharp founded the Berwyn National Bank, later consolidated into CoreStates after several mergers, according to the Tredyffrin Easttown Historical Society.

Sharp was also the head of Sharp, Haines and Co., a plumbing manufacturer, the TEHS says.

Real estate listings say the 4,500-square-foot home features five bathrooms and is set on 1.3 acres carved out from the Sharp estate. The sturdily built home has 18-inch-thick stone walls.

Records show the home was sold most recently in December 2016 for $890,000.

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