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Mother Arrested For Leaving 2-Year-Old Sons Home Alone, Killed By Fire [Video]

By Tito Ojo-Medubi
Published on: 00:49 PST, Sep 17, 2016

Heather Ace, a New York woman who left her 2-year-old twin sons Michael and Micah alone at home for over 90 minutes leading to their deaths in a fire, has been arrested by authorities, four months after the incident took place, FOX News is reporting.

According to the 25-year-old, she had dashed to the store to get some milk when a mysterious fire broke out at her Batavia home on May 20. The bodies of the twin boys were found inside their bedroom, the cause of death was smoke inhalation.

Officials say that Heather Ace is not being held directly liable for the death of her twin boys, Michael and Micah, but they noted that her actions endangered their welfare.

“She is not charged with either setting the fire or otherwise being directly responsible for their death. She is charged with acting in a manner that is likely to be injurious to their well-being.”

Ace was charged on two counts of endangering the welfare of a child.

Her landlord, Joe Burke, believes the charges are too lenient.

“She should have been charged with more than that. Those kids should have had a right to live.”

Burke said he rented the house to Heather Ace who lived at the property with her sister, Erika and the kids. He revealed that he rented the property next door to her parents, Tracy and Brian Ace, before they moved.

Joe Burke said he was on the verge of evicting Heather Ace before the fire incident because the apartment was always filthy. He added that when she lived in the house, “a lot of cars were always coming up and down the street.”

Burke has demolished the ruined building and plans to build a single-family house on the lot. He said the father of the twin boys had planted two memorial trees there.

Authorities are still yet to come to terms of what actually caused the fire. Chief Deputy Jerome Brewster, speaking to reporters, said investigations were still ongoing.

“Usually we are pretty adept at isolating the cause and then using that to further whatever investigation it may turn out to be. Sometimes, it’s accidental, sometimes it’s criminal, sometimes we don’t know. And this particular case we don’t know.”

Heather Ace said she told her parents, Brian and Tracy Ace, that she was going to the store to get something for the “kids to drink.” She also told her sister,who lived upstairs, that she had put them to bed and was leaving the house for awhile. The sister was not home, but told Heather that she would be home soon.

Unfortunately, no one was aware a fire had erupted in the home until Erika Ace arrived with her boyfriend. By that time, flames and smoke were shooting from the first-floor of the two-story building. Erica’s boyfriend had broken a window and tried to enter the residence to save the twin boys, but was driven back by the intense heat.

When firefighters managed to get the flames under control and went in, they found the bodies of Michael and Micah. Heather arrived minutes later and had to be physically restrained from entering the building.

According to the Democrat Chronicle, Michael and Micah did everything together. Both boys were born December 2013 and laid to rest in a shared casket. Their funeral had more than 200 people in attendance.

Their grandmother described them as two sweet, delectable boys who loved playing outdoors and fiddling with cell phones. She said despite being twins, the boys had different personalities. Micah was the laid back one and loved wearing everyone’s shoes. Michael was the extrovert who loved to text on people’s mobile phones.

Their grand mum described them as mischievous “holy terrors” who communicated with their own special language.

“They talked, but when they didn’t want us to know what they were saying. They were talking in gibberish. They understood each other. No one else knew what they were talking about.”

An image of the Paw Patrol cartoon that they loved so much was engraved on their casket.

Heather Ace is due in court October 3

[Feature Image by Jamie Hooper/Shutterstock]

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