Seton Hall dorm fire: A look at where some of the key people are today – NJ.com

Every year, Seton Hall University freshmen walk by a marble circle with the words “remember” in capital letters in front of the entrance of Boland Hall.

It serves as a reminder of the tragedy caused by an early morning fire on Jan. 19, 2000, when three students died and more than 50 others were injured.

The fire investigation took years. In 2003, authorities charged two students, Joseph LePore and Sean Ryan, with starting the fire as a part of a prank. The two roommates from Florham Park pleaded guilty on the eve of their trials in 2006.

Reflecting on his time as president of the university at the time of the fire, Monsignor Robert Sheeran said this week, “Time has a way of at least stopping the bleeding but the scars are always there.”

“It was an awful time that brought out the best of us all,” he continued.

Here’s a look at where people are today.

Joseph LePore

Immediately following the Seton Hall fire, LePore transferred to the University of Delaware. He was arrested in June 2003 after investigators said he and Ryan set the fatal fire in their dorm by lighting a banner left lying over a couch in the third floor lounge of Boland Hall.

After initially denying any wrongdoing, he pleaded guilty to arson in 2006 in a plea deal. LePore served less than three years in prison.

In 2012, he married and has a young daughter.

LePore, 39, declined to comment. His attorney, Sal Alfano, told NJ Advance Media this week his former client works in the home-improvement business.

Sean Ryan

Ryan remained at Seton Hall after the fire and was a senior when he was arrested in 2003. He, too, pleaded guilty to arson in 2006 and served a little more than two years in prison.

Ryan also declined to comment. Michael Bubb, his former attorney, said Ryan, 39, is working in business in New York City and has a wife and a child.

The Karol family

Aaron Karol, 18, was one of three students to die in the fire.

His older sister had a baby the same year as the fire, followed by two more children. She brings her children to anniversary ceremonies on the South Orange campus, and they have toured the third floor of Boland Hall, where their uncle died.

Joe and Candy Karol, Aaron’s parents, continue to cope with daily grief.

In addition to scholarships given in honor of Aaron Karol, his childhood friends formed a second charity, Aspiring Kindness, that gives grants to emergency responders. In the past decade, it has raised more than $250,000 and has given out $180,000 in grants to fire departments, ambulance squads, and Saint Barnabas Medical Center, which has a burn unit that treated victims of the fire.

There is also a bench at the middle school in Green Brook where Aaron attended with his name on it.

The Giunta family

John Guinta, a Vineland resident, was killed in the blaze. He was 18.

The Giunta family offers a scholarship in John’s name to future teachers who show “a sense of devotion to the community” and display the patience and discipline for which he was known. (www.rememberjohn.org)

His older brother, Peter, has three boys, he sometimes takes them to John’s gravesite.

Peter Giunta said he was often told after the fire that time heals all things. He has found that not to be true.

“It’s like having a wound, an open wound,” he said. “It doesn’t heal. It doesn’t scar over. You just learn how to cover it better, or how to dress it better.”

The Caltabilota family

Frank Caltabilota Jr., from West Long Branch, was killed in the fire. He was 18.

Caltabilota’s younger brother, Thomas, said his father Frank Caltalibota Sr., remains angry to this day.

“I am angry at the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office for having a room full of evidence and years of investigating and putting us through this circus and in the end the boys only get to serve a 2-year sentence. I’m angry that the families had to go to the parole board to extend their prison time. I’m angry at the school for not taking false alarms more seriously that Frankie would tell me that he and his roommate would have to hide in the bathroom to avoid having to go out in the cold in the middle of the night during finals week. That’s what I’m angry about,” he relayed through his son.

The Caltabilota family gives out scholarships in Frank’s name to recipients at both the schools he attended while growing up in West Long Branch.

Shawn Simons

Simons suffered second- and third-degree burns, mostly to his hands and face, during the fire. He spent two weeks in a medically-induced coma.

Simons graduated in 2004 with a degree in business management.

The 38-year-old has been married to his wife, Chinaire, for nine years. The couple lives in Roselle with their two sons, ages 14 and 17.

Simons, who sings in his church choir in Newark, also spends a lot of time traveling to high schools and college campuses around the country to talk about fire safety. He does it with his friend and another man badly injured in the blaze, Alvaro Llanos.

“We figured why not take the situation that we lived through, talk to students and say, ‘hey, we were just like you,’’’ Simons said.

Alvaro Llanos

Llanos, 38, was in a medically-induced coma for nine months; second- and third-degree burns covered 58% of his body.

Llanos eventually went back to college, focusing on earning a degree in physical therapy. He has yet to complete his degree because, he said, his current work with young people is more satisfying.

“It was something tragic that we had suffered through but we’re saving so many lives,’’ he told NJ Advance Media.

Llanos married Paula Vasquez. The two have a 15-year-old daughter and a son, 12. The two divorced after 12 years of marriage.

Llanos attends church every Sunday at Powerhouse Church in Wyckoff and has developed a stronger spiritual relationship with God, he said.

Dana Christmas-McCain

Christmas-McCain was a senior resident assistant in Boland Hall when the fire happened. After learning of the blaze, she went door-to-door waking students up to flee until she collapsed after suffering severe burns. Her heroic efforts earned her the name “Angel of Boland Hall.”

She is now married with a daughter and is a minister living in Paterson.

Her legacy lived on for many years in a scholarship, The Dana Christmas Scholarship for Heroism.

Former Essex County Prosecutor Paula T. Dow

After serving in the U.S. Attorney’s Office from 1994 to 2003, Dow became the Essex County prosecutor for six years where she secured guilty pleas from LePore and Ryan. In 2010, Dow was appointed by Gov. Chris Christie to the position of acting attorney general, where she remained until 2012. She is currently a Superior Court judge in Burlington County.

She did not return a call to her chambers to comment.

Former Essex County Prosecutor Donald Campolo

As an assistant attorney general, Campolo served as acting prosecutor for four years and was in charge as investigators spent years looking into the Seton Hall fire before Dow took over in 2003. Just before he left office, he was able to secure indictments against LePore and Ryan.

Campolo then did some consulting work and is now “happily” retired, he said in an interview this week.

“It was an important case really because of the magnitude of the suffering,” Campolo said. “I’ll never forget those families and what they went through. The team just wanted to get to the bottom of it and see if we could provide some measure of justice in the case. It was an important case for those reasons.”

Monsignor Robert Sheeran, former president of Seton Hall University

Sheeran spent 15 years as Seton Hall’s president and moved into Boland Hall after the fire to help reassure students and families that the building was safe.

After stepping down in 2009, he enrolled at the University of California at Berkeley where he took courses on Islam. Sheeran then moved to Jerusalem to spend the spring semester studying the Bible at an institute run by the University of Notre Dame.

“I am leaving not because I feel I’m tired of the presidency or I’m getting old or people don’t want me here. I think it’s really a call of God,” Sheeran told The Star-Ledger at the time.

In 2011, Sheeran became the director for mission and ministry at Marin Catholic High School in Kentfield, California, which is part of the Archdiocese of San Francisco. He retired last year, a school spokesperson said.

Sheeran, 74, is now back living on the Seton Hall campus as president emeritus.

Staff writers Kelly Heyboer and Barry Carter contributed to this report. Kathleen O’Brien also contributed reporting.

Alex Napoliello may be reached at anapoliello@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @alexnapoNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.