CHATTANOOGA (WRCB)-- A house fire claims the life of an infant.
It happened around 11 am on Maude Street.
A second child and a babysitter are in critical condition.
The landlord says he just rented this home to a woman and her two children this week. But the woman that was with the kids Saturday morning wasn't their mother. Authorities believe she was babysitting.
"I came on my front porch and I saw fire and smoke coming out through the front of the house," says Edward Woodgett.
Edward Woodgett lives directly next door from the home at 70 Maude Street.
"I went next door to try to see if anyone was in there and I heard children crying," says Woodgett.
Woodgett called 911, then picked up a five gallon bucket, filled it with water and started attacking the blaze before fire trucks arrived.
"I wanted to kick the front door open, but there was so much fire and smoke that I couldn't and about that time the front window blew out," says Woodgett.
When Tina Cheeks returned home around noon, she found her street blocked by police cars and fire trucks.
"They were new people, they just moved in and seemed to be real friendly," says Cheeks.
Minutes before, firefighters removed a woman and two small children from the home.
"The first firefighter in the lead was feeling on the floor and found an infant on the floor," says Chattanooga Fire spokesperson Bruce Garner.
The second child was found on a bed, all three in a back bedroom.
The victim's were immediately taken outside and put in an ambulance, but it was too late for the younger child.
Upon arrival at Erlanger, the baby was pronounced dead.
For Edward Woodgett and his Maude Street neighbors, it's a hard reality to face.
"It's something tragic. Only thing I can say is it's in the hands of the Lord. I feel sorry for the people, you know, but there just wasn't anything I could do," says Woodgett.
"It's real tragic, my heart goes out to the family," says Cheeks.
Officials still haven't released the victim's names or ages of the children, but neighbors tell Eyewitness News they were very young, around two or three.
The older child is at T.C. Thompson's.
The babysitter was first taken to Erlanger, but is expected to be transported to a burn center in Augusta, Georgia.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
70 Maude St
Chattanooga, TN 37403
Unrated
Bedrooms: --
Bathrooms: --
Sqft: 1,427
Lot size: --
Property type: Single Family
Year built: 1960
Parking type: --
Cooling system: --
Heating system: --
Fireplace: --
Last sold: June 15 2005
Description
This is a 1427 square foot, single family home. It is located at 70 Maude St Chattanooga, Tennessee. This home is in the Hamilton County School Distrct School District. The nearest schools are Chattanooga School For The Arts And Science, Orchard Knob Middle School and Brainerd High School.
: $55,000Rent Zestimate:$741/mo
Mortgage payment:
$218/mo
See current rates on Zillow
Source
06/15/2005 Sold $11,193 -- $7 Public Record
2010 $245 -0.1% $8,850 --
2009 $245 -5.4% $8,850 7.6%
2008 $259 -- $8,225 --
2007 $259 8.8% $8,225 --
2006 $238 -- $8,225
Wyndham Capital MortgageWyndham Capital Mortgage(new to zillow) 4.250% 4.370% $3,452
Roundpoint Mortgage (183) 4.250% 4.371% $3,479
Myers Park National Lending Center (10) 4.375% 4.387% $349
See more quotes
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Infant dies from Maude St. house fire - WRCBtv.com | Chattanooga News, Weather & Sports
Infant dies from Maude St. house fire - WRCBtv.com | Chattanooga News, Weather & Sports
CHATTANOOGA (WRCB)-- A house fire claims the life of an infant.
It happened around 11 am on Maude Street.
A second child and a babysitter are in critical condition.
The landlord says he just rented this home to a woman and her two children this week. But the woman that was with the kids Saturday morning wasn't their mother. Authorities believe she was babysitting.
"I came on my front porch and I saw fire and smoke coming out through the front of the house," says Edward Woodgett.
Edward Woodgett lives directly next door from the home at 70 Maude Street.
"I went next door to try to see if anyone was in there and I heard children crying," says Woodgett.
Woodgett called 911, then picked up a five gallon bucket, filled it with water and started attacking the blaze before fire trucks arrived.
"I wanted to kick the front door open, but there was so much fire and smoke that I couldn't and about that time the front window blew out," says Woodgett.
When Tina Cheeks returned home around noon, she found her street blocked by police cars and fire trucks.
"They were new people, they just moved in and seemed to be real friendly," says Cheeks.
Minutes before, firefighters removed a woman and two small children from the home.
"The first firefighter in the lead was feeling on the floor and found an infant on the floor," says Chattanooga Fire spokesperson Bruce Garner.
The second child was found on a bed, all three in a back bedroom.
The victim's were immediately taken outside and put in an ambulance, but it was too late for the younger child.
Upon arrival at Erlanger, the baby was pronounced dead.
For Edward Woodgett and his Maude Street neighbors, it's a hard reality to face.
"It's something tragic. Only thing I can say is it's in the hands of the Lord. I feel sorry for the people, you know, but there just wasn't anything I could do," says Woodgett.
"It's real tragic, my heart goes out to the family," says Cheeks.
Officials still haven't released the victim's names or ages of the children, but neighbors tell Eyewitness News they were very young, around two or three.
The older child is at T.C. Thompson's.
The babysitter was first taken to Erlanger, but is expected to be transported to a burn center in Augusta, Georgia.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
70 Maude St
Chattanooga, TN 37403
Unrated
Bedrooms: --
Bathrooms: --
Sqft: 1,427
Lot size: --
Property type: Single Family
Year built: 1960
Parking type: --
Cooling system: --
Heating system: --
Fireplace: --
Last sold: June 15 2005
Description
This is a 1427 square foot, single family home. It is located at 70 Maude St Chattanooga, Tennessee. This home is in the Hamilton County School Distrct School District. The nearest schools are Chattanooga School For The Arts And Science, Orchard Knob Middle School and Brainerd High School.
: $55,000Rent Zestimate:$741/mo
Mortgage payment:
$218/mo
See current rates on Zillow
Source
06/15/2005 Sold $11,193 -- $7 Public Record
2010 $245 -0.1% $8,850 --
2009 $245 -5.4% $8,850 7.6%
2008 $259 -- $8,225 --
2007 $259 8.8% $8,225 --
2006 $238 -- $8,225
Wyndham Capital MortgageWyndham Capital Mortgage(new to zillow) 4.250% 4.370% $3,452
Roundpoint Mortgage (183) 4.250% 4.371% $3,479
Myers Park National Lending Center (10) 4.375% 4.387% $349
See more quotes
New Details In East Ridge Murder | murder, ridge, jail - WTVC NewsChannel 9: Chattanooga News, Weather, Radar, Sports, Lottery
New Details In East Ridge Murder | murder, ridge, jail - WTVC NewsChannel 9: Chattanooga News, Weather, Radar, Sports, Lottery
East Ridge Murder Investigation
Police arrest a man in connection with an elderly woman's death.
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New Details In East Ridge Murder
June 17, 2011 5:12 PM
Karen Zatkulak
One man is in jail in connection with a 70 year old woman's murder, but the case is far from over. We're learning new details about Jane Stokes murder, and we're also taking a closer look at how the case was handled.
While one arrest has been made in the case, investigators are still busy. They say there's evidence who robbed Stokes, but they're still unsure who killed her.
70 year old Jane Stokes died violently. The medical examiner's report says she was killed by suffocation, found bound on her bedroom floor. Police say Randall Reed stole her credit cards, and turned himself in Thursday night. East Ridge Police Spokesperson Erik Hopkins says, "As of right now, Mr. Randall Reed has been charged with theft, but not in connection to the homicide."
Police say there were no signs of forced entry into Stoke's home. Neighbors tell us a tree had fallen on her home during the tornadoes, and several men were working to fix her chimney. Police aren't yet releasing whether Reed was one of those workers, or if he even knew Stokes.
We do know that he rented an apartment nearby in East Ridge with another woman. But, police say they had checked into the Travelodge for 2 nights, the day Stokes body was found.
Plastic wraps covered Stokes face and her hands were tied behind her back, so we wanted to know why police waited 29 hours to tell the public a killer was on the loose. Hopkins says, "Everything was pending because we didn't know it was a murder, we didn't know if there was going to be a murder investigation."
Here's a timeline of the investigation. The affidavit says someone entered Stokes home sometime Wednesday morning, and assaulted her. It says within an hour and fifteen minutes, Reed used Stokes credit cards.
At 11 that morning, police found her body, then released a statement 3 hours later, reporting her death.
An hour and a half later, they sent another release, saying the case was suspicious.
It wasn't until 4 the next afternoon, that police told the public they were looking for a suspect. Hopkins says, "We didn't want to falsely alarm anyone either, we wanted evidence to speak for itself, and that's what we were wanting on."
We've learned that Reed has a lengthy criminal history, including 14 theft and 13 forgery charges, but, he has no prior counts of violent offenses.
Police aren't saying whether there are any other suspects right now in the murder.