onslow county house fire kills six

[bills1]

onslow county nc a house fire kiled six childern this weekend. while the cause of the fire is still being investigated. the loss was the counties largest loss of life fire.
more details as they become known

[NJFFSA16]

The details

From July 12th

JACKSONVILLE, N.C. (AP) - It will be some time before
prosecutors make a decision about possible charges in the mobile
home fire that killed six children this week at an Onslow County
trailer park.
Investigators said one of the children was suspected of igniting
an air freshener, which caught the mobile home's interior on fire
early Wednesday.
"My office will review the evidence concerning this incident
and determine if charges should be filed," District Attorney Dewey
Hudson said Thursday.
A family friend who did not want to be identified said it could
be two weeks before the four children being treated at the burn
center of UNC Hospitals are well enough to talk about the fire.
The four were in critical condition. Their mother and
11-year-old brother, Nicholas Cantrell Oates, were treated at
Onslow Memorial Hospital.
County authorities asked the State Fire Marshal's Office to help
with the investigation.
"We still believe we have a juvenile who lit a candle, by his
own admission, but how did it spread from there?" Onslow Fire
Marshal Don Decker said. "We have to look into this. Why didn't
people get out when the smoke detectors sounded? We want to know
that, too."
Eleven children lived in the mobile home with a woman identified
both as Lisa Jones and Mary A. Turner. Although she told neighbors
that some of the children belonged to her sister, she was the
mother of 10 of the children and the grandmother of one, the father
of the children said.
Jesse Oates of Mount Olive has been estranged from Turner-Jones
for three years. The couple was never married, said the family
friend.
Lamont Oates II, 13-year-old Dorene Oates, 12-year-old Quanita
Oates, 2-month-old Angela Turner and 2-month-old Diamond Turner
died in the fire, the friend said.
Angela Turner was the daughter of 15-year-old Amanda Oates, who
also died. Diamond Turner was the child of Turner-Jones but not of
Oates, the friend said.
The injured, all children of Oates, are 9-year-old Lauren
Turner, 8-year-old Anthony Oates, 7-year-old Sherita Oates and
6-year-old Latasha "Bunny" Oates, the friend said.
The mother had moved to the mobile home park in February from
Johnston County, adopting the name Lisa Jones, family members said.
She has a criminal record that lists dozens of charges,
including giving fictitious information to officers, passing bad
checks, failing to return rental property and a wide variety of
traffic offenses, including the failure to use a child seat. The
disposition of many of the charges is unclear.
In February, authorities issued warrants charging her with six
counts of felony forgery, Capt. Dale Wheeler of the Johnston County
Sheriff's Office said. She could not be found, and the warrants
remain unserved.
When she left the county, her children had been listed as
dropouts in the school system, despite efforts by teachers and
social workers to help the family.
When she moved into the Jacksonville area, Turner "never
mentioned money problems, and I never asked," said neighbor
Delores McKay. "I figured she had some (money), the way she was
fixing up the yard."

(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

July 14th
MIDWAY PARK, N.C. (AP) - Residents of Sherwood Mobile Home Park,
mourning the loss of six children in a fire there Wednesday, are
trying to separate their grief from a growing sense of betrayal.
Each day, they learn more about the children's mother, a woman
they knew under a different name.
It's making the healing process difficult.
"We're still together on this but we're learning more and more
about her that wasn't true," neighbor Debbie Steele, 39, said.
The woman they knew as Lisa Jones was actually named Mary Alice
Turner, a woman with a criminal record.
Turner was arrested Monday on eight counts of forgery and
uttering and was in the Sampson County Jail with bond set at
$29,000, said Sampson County Sheriff Jim Thornton.
Warrants for her arrest were issued in Sampson County in March,
Thornton said. Turner moved to the Midway Park area east of
Jacksonville in January.
Last week, Johnston County Sheriff Steve Bizzell said Turner was
wanted in that county on six counts of forgery and uttering and
five counts of worthless checks.
Bizzell said his department wouldn't charge Turner until after
her children's funerals, which are scheduled for 2 p.m. Wednesday.
One resident has withdrawn his offer of a new, furnished trailer
because of Turner's background, said Bridget Hendges, 48, manager
of the 207-lot mobile home park near Jacksonville.
But the Lisa Jones fund has not been emptied, Hendges said.
Teresa Flores has been in touch with Turner and said she is
struggling to cover $3,000 in funeral expenses.
"She doesn't hate anybody for taking anything back," Flores
said Saturday. "But it would have been helpful to bury those
children."
Relatives have scheduled a memorial service for the children
Tuesday evening in Clinton, followed by a funeral and burial
Wednesday afternoon. The funeral will be held at a middle school to
accommodate the expected crowd.
Lamont Oates II, 13-year-old Dorene Oates, 12-year-old Quanita
Oates, 2-month-old Angela Turner and 2-month-old Diamond Turner
died in the fire. Angela Turner was the daughter of 15-year-old
Amanda Oates, who also died, a family friend said.
Four children were injured: 9-year-old Lauren Turner, 8-year-old
Anthony Oates, 7-year-old Sherita Oates and 6-year-old Latasha
"Bunny" Oates. They were in critical condition late Sunday at the
UNC Burn Center in Chapel Hill.
On Friday evening, neighbors gathered for a vigil in front of
the boarded-up mobile home. About 30 adults and 20 children shared
memories, poems and tears as they recalled 11 playmates who once
populated their street.
Eleven children lived in the mobile home with Turner-Jones.
Although she told neighbors that some of the children belonged to
her sister, she was the mother of 10 of the children and the
grandmother of one, the father of the children said.
Jesse Oates of Mount Olive had been estranged from Turner-Jones
for three years. The couple was never married, the family friend
said.
The mother had moved to the mobile home park in February from
Johnston County, adopting the name Lisa Jones, family members said.
She has a criminal record that lists dozens of charges,
including giving fictitious information to officers, passing bad
checks, failing to return rental property and a wide variety of
traffic offenses, including the failure to use a child seat. The
disposition of many of the charges is unclear.
When she left the county, her children had been listed as
dropouts in the school system, despite efforts by teachers and
social workers to help the family.
One of the children, 11-year-old Nicholas Cantrell Oates, told
investigators he lit the candle that started the blaze, and a
district attorney is considering whether to file charges.
Nicholas is troubled by the possibility and memories of the
fire, Flores said.
"Does he blame himself? Yes he does," she said. "Can he do
anything about it? No."
The last time Hendges, the park manager, saw Turner-Jones was
before she left Onslow Memorial Hospital in Jacksonville on Friday.
One leg and both of Turner-Jones' arms were cut and bandaged,
Hendges said, and her face was swollen. She talked about wanting to
move back to the park and her reasons for using a fake name, but
Hendges would not elaborate.
"She knows why, and she's going to be the one to answer," she
said.
Flores said Turner-Jones told her, too, and that her reasons had
nothing to do with fleeing law enforcement.
"I'm not going to turn my back on her," she said. "She is a
good person, and every person makes mistakes."

(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)