Arson is suspected in blaze that took four lives

Keith Paul

Monday, Nov. 20, 2000 | 11:19 a.m.

Fire investigators know one thing about the March blaze that engulfed an apartment building, killing three small children and an elderly man -- it was no accident.

But the investigation remains stalled without an official cause for the deadly blaze. The problem is there isn't enough evidence to prove in court that the March 7 fire at 1750 Karen Ave. in a Cedar Springs Apartments building was arson, two sources familiar with the fire investigation said.

Clark County fire investigators -- including the department's arson detection dog -- went through the remains of Building 45 for days trying to determine a cause of the fire. The investigation continued for weeks, stretching into months. The case remains open, and no one has been charged in connection with the fire.

About 7 a.m. on March 7 scores of people fled their apartments as a fire ripped through the building. Four people didn't make it out.

Apartment resident Helen Williams' three children -- Ladeana, 4, Jae, 3, and Eric III, 2, died as they slept in a back bedroom of a second-floor apartment. Sam Kloner, 73, who lived downstairs, also died in the fire.

For weeks investigators intensively searched the burned-out apartment for answers, and what they found were some signs of arson, according to a source who spoke to the Sun on the condition of anonymity.

"There were several elements of arson that could not be explained away," he said.

Investigators found the fire started in the upstairs apartment and originated at three separate points. In addition, Josie, the department's arson-detection dog, alerted on spots in the apartment suggesting an accelerant, and Williams gave inconsistent statements of what occurred.

However, forensic tests by the Metro crime lab and a federal lab in Washington, D.C., on samples taken from the apartment were inconclusive.

Officially the cause of the fire remains under investigation, Steve La-Sky, a department spokesman, said.

But a narrative in the incident report by Capt. Robert James, a fire investigator, noted it was his opinion that the fire started in Williams' apartment, and "there is no accidental heat source found in this area."

James also rules out the fire starting in Kloner's apartment.

Williams told police and fire investigators -- as well as the Sun during an interview the day of the fire -- that she was asleep on the couch and was awakened when the sliding glass patio door shattered.

She saw fire all around and was unable to go down the hallway to get to her kids, because it was blocked by fire. She then ran out of the apartment and called for help.

"I couldn't get to my kids. I tried. I tried so hard, but I couldn't get to them," Williams told the Sun in a March interview hours after her children died.

James noted in his report that when he went to an apartment near the office to talk with Williams, she was "calm and sitting on the sofa."

In addition, the evidence indicated the way the fire burned didn't fit the statements Williams gave investigators, the source said.

But during an interview with the Sun the day of the fire, both Williams and her sister-in-law said Williams had a brain injury in her youth and was taking medication.

Williams could not be reached for comment for this story.

Williams has not been charged, and prosecutors don't see any charges coming unless new information is uncovered.

"I believe that everyone pretty well concluded that we cannot prove any criminal culpability on the part of the mother," Clark County Deputy District Attorney Bill Koot said. "She was questioned extensively, and she never did make any what you would call admissions."

Metro Police homicide detectives were involved in the investigation, but unless arson can be proven, the deaths are not considered homicides. Homicide detectives are no longer investigating the case.

U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms investigators and the apartment's insurance company also sifted through the evidence during their inquiries, but those reports were not released.

County County Fire Department spokesman Steve La-Sky said the case will remain an open investigation until a cause can be determined.

But a second source close to the investigation said he wasn't very optimistic a ruling of arson will be made without some new information such as additional witnesses who may have seen something but haven't come forward.

Fire investigators "turned over every stone they could, and they couldn't get there," the second source said. "There is one thing you can say: It's not accidental."