KALAMAZOO, Mich. — New details have been released regarding the fire that killed three young children in mid-February at Interfaith Homes in Kalamazoo.
The Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety released the investigative reports. The reports give several accounts from officers that responded to the scene that day. Officers described fights breaking out during the fire, witness accounts, and how firefighters discovered the children’s bodies inside the home.
Drayana O’Day is the surviving child of Jonetta Woods. She ran out of the home when the fire started. O’Day, who was four years old at the time, told officers that she and her siblings were left home alone. She said her younger brother, Tevin, had placed an object in the stove. The object was lit on fire, and he brought the flaming object into another room onto the floor.
Also in the document: Jonetta Woods’ sister, Alberta Jackson, told detectives Woods has learning disabilities and is unable to take care of herself financially. All of Woods’ government checks go to Jackson, and Jackson said she pays Woods’ bills.
An officer also reported how former chief Brian Uridge and another firefighter partially fell through a floor while going through the smoke-filled home, searching for the third child.
Woods and her former boyfriend, Fred Glespie, were found guilty of child neglect during a civil trial this past summer.
Glespie has now been charged with second degree child abuse.
