'Unimaginable': Girl dies after mom set house on fire, police say
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A Michigan mother faces arson charges after investigators say she set fire to her home with her children inside, sending one of her daughters to the hospital where she later died.
Family members said the 12-year-old girl, Shamiya Stewart, died just after 8 p.m. Monday at Helen DeVos Children's Hospital in Grand Rapids.
"Her life is hanging in the balance and her dad has a tough decision to make," cousin Patricia Robinson told Nexstar's WOOD earlier Monday evening.
Family members said she suffered burns over 30% of her body and the fire chief said she also suffered smoke inhalation.
Her father said Shamiya was a "fighter."
"She ain't deserve this at all. She's a good child. She's my special baby. She was in the NICU for four months. It's hard. It's hard. It's hard for me," dad Lyn Stewart said, weeping. "Just keep the family in prayer, please. That's all I can say."
Chief: Mom spread lighter fluid, started fire
The girl's mother Roconda Singleton, 46, is expected to be arraigned within days on charges of first-degree arson and three counts of second-degree child abuse in connection to the Saturday morning house fire.
"This is a shockingly cruel, unimaginable crime committed by a mom against her three kids," Grand Rapids Police Department Chief Eric Winstrom said at a Monday afternoon news conference.
"This is a mom that meticulously took all seven of her smoke detectors and put them in a bag and removed them from the house before she poured lighter fluid all over the house and lit it on fire in an attempt to kill her three children," the chief went on to say.
He said Singleton poured lighter fluid "all over upstairs, all over downstairs."
"I think she covered the couch in lighter fluid," Winstrom said. "That's a pretty effective way to start a fire."
Family members called Shamiya's 10-year-old sister a "hero," saying she helped get their other sister, age 7, out of the house through a window.
"We just thank God for her quick thinking. She's bruised but she's here," Patricia Robinson said of the 10-year-old.
"It's a lot for a young lady to handle at such a young age, but her quick thinking saved their lives," Robinson's husband Pastor Chris Robinson said.
The 10-year-old told WOOD she tried to get to Shamiya, but there was too much smoke and she couldn't breathe.
"Everybody was trying to save my mom and she just wanted to lay down on her bed while her room was lighted up with fire. And she did not want to go but she finally came out," the 10-year-old said. "She wouldn't tell where (Shamiya) was, so I had to keep leading them to my sister."
"I want to say that she should be locked up for life for killing my sister," the 10-year-old said. "I want to know, why did she have to do that to her? She didn't deserve that."
Firefighters pulled girl from burning home
A passerby spotted the flames and called 911. Police body camera video released during the news conference shows an officer questioning Singleton about whether anyone was still in the house and then directing firefighters to a bedroom on the second floor. With huge flames leaping from the first floor and smoke billowing, firefighters climbed a ladder to a second-story window to rescue the 12-year-old.
"Even when the firefighters were walking in the second floor in the back ... the smoke (was) so thick that I'm sure you couldn't see more than an inch in front of your face," Winstrom said.
In the video, firefighters can then be seen laying Shamiya in the snow and starting chest compressions.
Shamiya was rushed to the hospital. Her sisters were treated and released.
Grand Rapids Fire Department Chief Brad Brown said 42 firefighters from 13 units rushed to the house to battle the fire, which he said advanced "very rapidly."
"Our members placed themselves directly in harm's way to save a life," Brown said. "The vast majority of rigs in this city of Grand Rapids, at one point or another, made their way through this fire. ... We had multiple things going at the same time. We had four separate teams searching, two different crews doing fire attack, ventilation, water supply and medical out in the front yard."
The bag of smoke detectors, meanwhile, was in the backyard, the police chief said. He said they can be heard beeping in the bodycam video as officers moved by the bag.
If convicted of arson, Singleton faces up to life in prison. Each of the child abuse charges are 10-year felonies.
Singleton has a criminal history, but the police chief said it is not extensive and the home was not a "problem house." Winstrom said he "cannot fathom any motive" for a mother attempting to harm her children. Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker said "it's a mental health issue."
"I think that's what's going to come out," Becker said. "But a lot of the calls that they were getting were mental health-related for mom. But there's ... no prior child abuse."
The police chief said Children's Protective Services is now involved. Community members are also working to support the children.
"We need prayer because this dad is hurting, as well as these children," Chris Robinson said. "Wherever answers can be provided, let the answers come. ... No family should have to go through this."
A GoFundMe has been started for Shamiya's family.