On Feb. 17, the Spring Mill neighborhood was abuzz with firefighters, police officers, paramedics and gawkers after a meth lab explosion caused a fire that killed three young children.
But what happened to the house after the chaos died down, the children were buried, 4,555 grams of liquid meth were carted away and three people were charged?
Not much, neighbors say.
Becky Bridges is confronted with a ghastly reminder of what happened each time she comes and goes from her neighborhood because the house sits at the entrance. It's vacant, its windows boarded, its shrubs unkempt. Hot pink fliers tacked to the facade warn people that the home was once a clandestine laboratory for the manufacture of illegal drugs.
"The very worst part of it for me," Bridges said, "is that every time I look at that house, I think of the three children that died."
So, too, does John Lease, a carpenter who was returning to work when he saw the blaze and stopped to help. Lease scaled a ladder to fetch the children as they yelled frantically.
"Every day I deal with the memories of the babies. I can't get it out of my head, especially since I have to drive by it every day," Lease said. "I can't see [anyone] wanting to live there after what happened."
Police say Isaac Guevara, 4, Ivan Guevara, 3, and 18-month-old Stacy Brito died from burns and smoke inhalation.
Their mother, Neibi Brito, 22, and two men, Ivan Gonzales, 26, and Joseph Alexander Perez, 31, have been charged with murder, trafficking in meth and violation of the Georgia Controlled Substances Act. Brito and Perez are being held without bond in the Gwinnett County jail. Gonzales is at large.
The homeowner who was renting to someone connected to the suspects, Socorro Sepulveda, lives in California. Neighbors say she had the charred material removed from the house, but she has not undertaken any renovations. A reporter's attempts to reach her this week were unsuccessful because her phone was disconnected.
Cpl. Edwin Ritter, a Gwinnett County police spokesman, said a code enforcement officer issued the homeowner a notice of violation of county ordinances because of the home's unkempt state, but police have also had difficulty contacting her. She reportedly told police that repairs have been delayed because she is in a dispute with her insurance company.
Travis Bailey had a similar headache on his hands after he rented out an investment property in Norcross to a woman who seemed upstanding. Police raided the house at 3355 Newbury Road on Nov. 30 and say they found nearly a half ton of methamphetamine worth $44 million inside. Drug dealers evidently used the woman as a straw renter and set up a meth superlab, Bailey said.
The house is now vacant, its utilities turned off. Bailey said his insurance did not cover damage from chemical contamination, and it may cost $10,000 to have the house cleaned. Meanwhile, he is losing $800 a month in rent. Bailey has had difficulty finding information about what to do next.
"I would love if there were good resources to help a homeowner know what the next step is," Bailey said.
Roszell Gadson, a spokesman for State Farm, said his company does not have a record of insuring either of the houses, but in general a homeowner using a residence as a rental property should buy a rental dwelling policy and not a homeowner's policy.
A fire or explosion would be covered if the homeowner had a rental dwelling policy and was not intentionally involved in criminal activity. Chemical contamination, however, is not covered under most homeowner's or rental dwelling insurance policies, Gadson said.
Contamination poses a huge problem. The vapors from the toxic chemicals used to cook methamphetamine can seep into the walls and structure of a home, and Gordy Powell, director of field operations for a specialty cleaning firm, Georgia Clean and Associates, said exposure to them is potentially deadly. Professional cleaners wear protective equipment and use ventilators.
Powell said 98 percent of the meth labs he sees are in rental properties. He recommends landlords check for signs of meth activity such as windows covered with tinfoil or blacked out, and strange chemical odors. An abundance of batteries, propane tanks or antifreeze bottles in the trash could also signal a meth lab, he said.
Don Kiefaber, a Realtor and resident of the Spring Mill subdivision, said most of the neighbors have lived there for more than 10 years. They worry the vacant house will attract vagrants, mice and degenerates as long as it sits empty.
"You would like for there to be a quick fix," Kiefaber said, "but obviously there just isn't."
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