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Fire kills five girls in Bentonville Wednesday, Mar 26, 2008 By Richard Dean Prudenti The Morning News BENTONVILLE - Five sisters who slept in the same room on the second floor of their Bentonville home died together in a fire early Tuesday morning. The girls' parents, Jamie Dale Frazier, 33, and Karry A. Mahmens Frazier, 27, were downstairs and escaped without injury after a smoke detector alerted them to fire and smoke about 1:22 a.m. About two minutes later, Bentonville firefighters reached the rental house at 402 S.W. "B" St. and found the couple's five children dead. Police identified them as Kristan Frazier, 13; Kimberly Frazier, 11; Katelyn Mahmens, 9; Kaila Frazier, 8; and Kiya Frazier, 5, who would have turned 6 in April. "This is the nightmare firefighters dread," said Bentonville Fire Chief Dan White. Investigators suspect a space heater between beds and the wall in the girls' room started the fire. Firefighters arriving at the scene found the fire making its way from the second floor down a narrow stairwell, which was the only access to the 336-square-foot second floor except for a small window that would have been difficult for a person to get through, White said. The parents were distraught on the scene, said Bentonville Police Chief James Allen. "Apparently the dad tried to go back upstairs even after the fire department got there," he said. All of the children were in "sleeping positions" in a room where two of them lay on twin beds side by side, and three of them were on the floor, White said. "They were exposed to the smoke for too long," he said. Intense fire kept Karry and Jamie Frazier from saving their children, said Kathy Mahmens of Bentonville, the children's maternal grandmother. "They tried to get up the stairs and they couldn't," she said. Kristan and Kimberly were Jamie Frazier's daughters from a prior marriage, Katelyn was Karry Frazier's daughter from a prior marriage and Kaila and Kiya were the Fraziers' daughters together, Mahmens said. The Frazier sisters were tight-knit, and the oldest was protective of the others, said 12-year-old Taylor Shelby, a neighbor who was Kristan's friend. Kristan Frazier liked fishing for crawdads in creeks, playing Guitar Hero, drawing and reading, Shelby said. She was always coloring, drawing or reading on the school bus instead of talking with friends, she said. The friends spent three hours sitting and talking Easter Sunday about school and the holiday. "I'm so sad," Shelby said. "We were talking and she's laughing and now it's just like I'm not going to have her around anymore." Bentonville Superintendent Gary Compton said teachers and principals were reeling Tuesday from the loss of five students. "It's always a really sad day when somebody young loses their lives. The schools are struggling," Compton said. The Fraziers had lived in Bentonville for several years and the children had been in the public schools for some time, Compton said. He and school administrators met with principals at Lincoln Junior High School, Ruth Hale Barker Middle School and Sugar Creek Elementary School on Tuesday morning to help those schools' staffs handle their emotions and determine what to tell students. Autopsies at the medical examiner's office in Little Rock will help determine causes of death, Allen said during a news conference Tuesday. Investigators also sent the portable electric heater from the girls' room to the state Crime Laboratory, he said. "It looks like this is accidental based on the space heater," he said. Neighbors said the inside of the house was less than ideal, with the insulation exposed from the walls and clothes strewn on the floor because the children had no dressers. Allen said that Department of Human Services had received calls from those concerned about the living conditions and treatment of the children. Police are investigating the presence of drug paraphernalia and small amounts of what they believe to be methamphetamine and marijuana in the house, Allen said. There were no signs that methamphetamine was being manufactured in the house, and neither parent was tested for drug use, Allen said. "Fires can happen in any home," Allen said. The police department has received many call complaints regarding the address. The nature of these calls "run the gamut" and include complaints about animals, noise, harassment and domestic disputes. "In spite of everything, they were good kids. They were sweethearts," said Brynna Bush, whose 12-year-old daughter, Aislinn Bush, was friends with Kristan and Kimberly. The children normally played together at Aislinn's house. On Monday night, Kimberly and Kristen came by the house and jumped on the trampoline in the yard. One of the last things they did together was hang out at the library and share a root beer float, Aislinn said. Still in her pajamas, Aislinn said Tuesday morning she didn't know what she was feeling. "You think they are gone for a day, but really they are gone for the rest of your life," Bush said. The Morning News' Scarlet Sims and Lana F. Flowers contributed to this report. HOW TO HELP Memorial Fund An Arvest Bank account has been set up for the Frazier family to help pay for the burials of the five children, said Carol Martin, a friend of the children's grandmother, Kathy Mahmens. For more information, call Arvest at 271-1253. No funeral arrangements had been made Tuesday. Source: Staff Report |
