The mother charged with murder after three of her sons died in a house fire says she knows the children are in heaven now.
"If I was able to trade places with them, I would," Rockell Coleman told Channel 2 Action News.
Coleman, 28, was jailed on murder charges for the deaths of three of her five young sons who police say were home alone when their house caught on fire. She was released on bond earlier this week.
The funeral for her sons takes place today at 11 a.m. at Divine Faith Ministries on Tara Boulevard in Jonesboro.
"I just hope I could keep it together when I go see them for the first time," Coleman told Channel 2.
Coleman told police she was at her job handing out fliers for a tax-preparation service on Dec. 12 when the fire started around 11 p.m. at the house on Misty Valley Road near Decatur. She said her roommate was supposed to be with the five brothers while she worked.
Jabari, 3, and Preston, 4, were dead by the time they reached the hospital and 10-year-old Javis died three days later. A.J., 9, and Shamari, 4, survived the fire.
Several hours after the fire, Coleman was jailed on five counts of felony child cruelty and three counts of felony murder.
Coleman told Channel 2 she was granted bond after phone records showed that an adult was with the children that evening.
“I think that was the changing point in that,” Coleman’s mother told Channel 2.
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