Examiner’s early report released : Smoke, lethal amount of carbon monoxide in blood likely caused deaths
Posted on Friday, March 28, 2008
BENTONVILLE - The five girls killed in a house fire died from smoke and soot inhalation, according to Benton County Coroner Wesley Lewis.
Lewis said he received a preliminary report Thursday from the Medical Examiner's Office at the Arkansas Crime Laboratory. The preliminary findings indicate the girls died from smoke and soot inhalation with a lethal amount of carbon monoxide in their blood, Lewis said.
Firefighters - who were called to the home at 1: 24 a.m. Tuesday - found the girls' bodies in the upstairs portion of the residence at 402 S. W. B St.
The girls - Kristan Frazier, 13; Kimberly Frazier, 11; Katelyn Mahmens, 9; Kaila Frazier, 8; and Kiya Frazier, 5 - were pronounced dead at the scene.
The children's parents - Jamie Dale Frazier and Karry A. Mahmens Frazier - escaped the home after a smoke detector woke them. They were unable to get upstairs to wake the girls because of overwhelming heat and smoke, Bentonville Police Chief Dan White said.
Firefighters found two of the girls in their beds, while the other three children were on the floor in sleeping positions.
Kristan was a seventhgrader at Lincoln Junior High School. Kimberly was in the fifth grade at Ruth Hale Barker Middle School. Katelyn, Kaila and Kiya attended Sugar Creek Elementary School: Katelyn was a thirdgrader, Kaila a first-grader and Kiya a kindergartner.
H Bros Entertainment held a concert Thursday night to raise money for the girls' burial expenses.
Fayetteville's Benjamin Del Shreve performed at the concert, which was held at the OPO, located under Urban Table on the Fayetteville Square.
"Our thoughts and prayers go with the Frazier family; to lose in an instant your five daughters ranging from 5 years to 13 years of age, … (I ) don't want to imagine, " Shreve said. "We can't go back in time and stop the fire, but we can make sure these girls get the proper burial rights and ease some haunting stress of the Frazier family."
Several items were auctioned off, and all the money raised will go directly to Rollins Funeral Home, which is handling the girls' funeral services, said Brandon Gonzalez, H Bros' director of marketing.
Donations may be made by tuning into KXNA (104. 9 the X ) or by calling Butler Broadcasting at (479 ) 582-3776.
Gonzalez said people can also go to any Arvest Bank in northwest Arkansas and ask about the Frazier Family Fund.
Gonzalez said the support they have been getting from listeners and the public makes him proud to live in northwest Arkansas.
Bentonville attorney Brad Karren, who represents the Fraziers, said he has received calls concerning donations for the family. Karren said all items except food are needed. He has a place to store the items for the family.
A makeshift memorial of flowers, stuffed animals and notes continues to grow on the porch of the burned home.
A cause of the fire has not been determined, but firefighters suspect it may have been caused by a space heater that was in the upstairs area with the girls. The space heater was sent to the Crime Lab.
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