3 Children, Including 8-Month-Old Infant, Burn Alive In Home Fire While Mom Parties

Three children have died in a fire after their mother allegedly left them locked inside their home and went out partying.

The home in Rio Branco, a city in Northern Brazil, was completely engulfed in flames on Sunday evening following a short circuit in a fan. Neighbors rushed outside after hearing the children's screams and tried to rescue them. However, they could not enter the home as it had been padlocked.

Firefighters quickly responded to the scene but were too late. The three children, identified as 4-year-old Diogo Monteiro de Freitas, 2-year-old Caio Monteiro de Freitas and 8-month-old Vitoria Sofia Monteiro de Freitas, had already burned to death in the house fire. The firefighters, however, managed to contain the fire and stop it from spreading to nearby homes.

Investigation revealed that their mother, 23-year-old Jociane Monteiro, had locked the children in their home and gone to a bar when the incident took place. She was taken into custody and booked on charges of child neglect.

"During interrogation, Jociane showed no emotional reaction. She did not cry, did not ask about the children or what had happened to them. She just declared that she would be silent," Investigator Yvens Moreira told local news outlet Ac24Horas. (Google translation showed)

Monteiro has since been granted provisional release from custody as a precautionary measure due to the ongoing pandemic and will later face trial.

"Art 8: To recommend to the courts and magistrates exceptionally and exclusively during the period of health restriction, as a way to reduce epidemiological risks in compliance with the local context of the virus spread, consider the covid-19 pandemic as a suitable motivation as provided for in art 310, paragraphs 3 and 4, of the Criminal Procedure Code, for the non-holding of custody hearings. Therefore, with an emphasis on the above statements, I grant Jociane Evangelista Monteiro the provisional release, imposing the precautionary measures," Judge Marcelo Carvalho said in a decision. (Google translation showed)

The children were buried earlier this week. It remains unclear whether their mother attended the funeral.