Crash into inlaws' home kills man, 2 kids
             

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                  Associated Press
                  Dec. 26, 2003 10:14 AM
                  ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. - A man drove his car into his 
                  in-laws' house in a fiery Christmas Day crash, killing himself 
                  and his two children minutes before he was supposed to turn 
                  them over to his estranged wife, according to media reports.

                  Shahab Behzadpour, his 3-year-old son, Sammi, and 6-year-old 
                  daughter, Nikki, died in the crash in Altamonte Springs, a 
                  northern Orlando suburb.

                  Behzadpour, 46, and his wife, Hope Custodio, were undergoing a 
                  bitter divorce. Court records show she had accused him of 
                  abuse, and on Friday she won a restraining order for him to 
                  stay away from her, the Orlando Sentinel reported.

                  But the couple had shared custody of the children and he was 
                  supposed to let them spend Christmas afternoon with his wife, 
                  relatives and neighbors told WKMG-TV of Orlando.

                  Behzadpour's Ford Crown Victoria hit a pillar at the front of 
                  Custodio's parents' house, in the gated community of Brantley 
                  Estates, and exploded into a fireball.

                  Custodio's brother Alex Custodio told WFTV-TV of Orlando that 
                  he believed his brother-in-law intentionally rammed the house, 
                  and that Behzadpour had threatened to harm himself and the 
                  children in the past.

                  Alex Custodio said the family did not immediately know who was 
                  in the car when the crash occurred.

                  "The whole thing was in flames ..." he said. "It was burning 
                  real fast and my wife said there was somebody inside there. 
                  She was trying to get the fire extinguisher and it wouldn't 
                  work, then we just got away because we thought it was going to 
                  explode and then we found out it was my brother-in-law's car."

                  The Altamonte Springs police department and Orange County 
                  Sheriff's Department did not immediately return phone messages 
                  and pages Thursday night.

                  Yaqood Virani, a neighbor of Behzadpour, said the family came 
                  to central Florida from Chicago two years ago. He said 
                  Behzadpour said he was originally from Iran.

                  "He loved his children very much," said Virani. "We'd never 
                  had an inkling of this."




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