A 56-year-old grandmother caught in a house fire with her two grandkids in Philadelphia’s Bridesburg neighborhood has died.
The Philadelphia Medical Examiner’s office said Maureen Davis died of complications from smoke inhalation and ruled her death a homicide. The Philadelphia Police Department has not announced charges related to the fire, but a high-level source within the PPD told NBC10 last week that the ex-boyfriend of the children’s mother had turned himself in.
Police said they believe the blaze, which gutted the home on Kennedy Street, could be related to a "domestic" situation, and they were investigating whether the ex-boyfriend was involved.
The mother, Karrine Mahaffey, told NBC10 that when the fire began, she was at the police station filing a restraining order against her ex, who had been threatening her for days.
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“He called and he said, ‘If you don’t want to be with me, there’s consequences for your actions.’ That was right before the fire,” she said.
Firefighters used ladders to rescue Mahaffey’s two children – a 10-year-old boy and a 13-year-old girl – who were hanging from second-floor windows and yelling for help, a deputy fire chief at the scene said. They were rushed to a children's hospital and listed in stable condition.
Davis was pulled from the front door of the home and listed in critical condition before her death.
