7-Year-Old May Have Started Fatal Blaze

VAL VERDE — The Dec. 31 blaze that killed two brothers may have been accidentally started by the younger boy, whom authorities believe was the only one awake when the morning fire began.

Investigators have eliminated other accidental causes and determined that the Christmas tree lights were unplugged at the time of the fire, said Battalion Chief John P. Harris of the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

Sean Williams, 17, and his half-brother Patrick Crawford, 7, were critically burned in the fire and died of their injuries within days. Another victim, 20-year-old Patricia Lynn Martin, remains hospitalized in critical condition at Los Angeles County/USC Medical Center.

Sgt. George Ducoulombier, of the county Sheriff’s Department, said detectives determined that the home was locked at the time of the fire and only one person was up, but he would not confirm it was Patrick.

“There does not seem to be any criminal intent,” Ducoulombier said.

Harris said Saturday that investigators knew Patrick was awake because the boys’ mother, Lisa Reese, had called home before the fire and spoken to him, asking him to let out the family’s dog. Reese was at her job at a bank when the fire gutted her home, neighbors said.

Harris said authorities may never be certain what caused the deadly blaze, but added: “It’s our suspicion that he was probably just playing with matches and accidentally started the fire.”

The brothers’ deaths cast a pall over Santa Clarita, where members of Valencia High School’s basketball team wore black wrist bands this month to honor Sean, their team manager. Students in Patrick’s second-grade class wrote condolence cards to his mother, describing how much they would miss him.

Initially, investigators differed in their assessments of the blaze, which appeared to have started near the family’s 12-foot Christmas tree. County fire investigators ruled the fire accidental, but the Sheriff’s Department considered it suspicious.

After Patrick escaped from the burning house by jumping out a second-story window, he ran to a next-door neighbor’s home, got into a bathtub and turned on the water to cool himself down. He hid under a bed when authorities arrived, Harris said.

“The sheriff [investigators] and our arson investigators say that is normal behavior of a child who’s set a fire,” he said. “A lot of times they’ll hide in a closet. He hid under the lady’s bed. Poor little guy.”