Milwaukee woman charged with child neglect in fire that killed 1-year-old girl
MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- A 31-year-old Milwaukee woman has been charged in the death of a child in a fire that happened Saturday, February 10. Quintella Owens has been charged with three counts of child neglect in the death of 1-year-old Quamyiia Owens.
According to the criminal complaint, fire crews responded to the fire around 9:45 p.m. and within minutes on scene a firefighter exited the house near 28th and Meinecke with a small, lifeless body. The child, Quamyiia Owens, was rushed to the hospital.
Milwaukee Police officers talked to a woman living in the upper portion of the duplex who said around 9:40 p.m. smoke began billowing out of a heating vent so she grabbed her grand kids and left the house. When the woman got outside she saw two of the three children who lived inside the lower portion who told her that their baby sister was still inside. The woman attempted to enter the house, but there was too much smoke.
One of the children told police that there were no adults inside the lower portion of the duplex. The other kids were aged 10-years-old and 4-years-old. The 10-year-old woke up around the time of the fire and saw that the 4-year-old was trying to light incense using the stove. The 10-year-old took the incense, put it in a trash can and went back to sleep. Minutes later the 4-year-old was yelling that there was a fire. The 10-year-old tried to get the baby out of the house but there was too much smoke. Investigators determined that the fire started in the trashcan that the incense was put in.
The baby, Quamyiia, had severe burns to her face, chest, arms, hands, legs and back covering 40 to 50 percent of her body and needed to be intubated. She died the next day from her injuries.
Just after midnight around 12:20, the mother of the children, Quintella Owens, arrived at the scene after work in Fond du Lac. She told police that she left the house around 3 p.m. for work and her sister was supposed to watch the kids. In an interview the next day, Owens told police that she never confirmed with her sister that she would watch the kids but "assumed she would arrive home."