A memorial fund for those wishing to help the family with funeral expenses has been established at Wells Fargo bank, a spokesman for the bank told The AJC. The account is called the Alonna McCrary Memorial Fund and donations can be made at any Georgia branch.
A Facebook page was also created for those wishing to share condolences.
When she moved out of her Newnan rental home in January, Tamara Terrell gave her cousin the landlord’s phone number. She never imagined her cousin and four children would later die in the house.
Two days after five family members perished in a house fire, relatives were planning funerals, Terrell said.
Investigators believe that electrical problems sparked the early Saturday fire that killed 28-year-old Alonna McCrary and four children: Eriel McCrary, 5, Messiah White, 3, Nikia White, 2, and McKenzie Florence, 1. Eriel and Nikia were McCrary’s daughters, and the other girls were her step-daughters, family members said. An 11-year-old daughter of McCrary was able to escape from the home.
As family members and friends mourned the woman and girls, those in the community were also heartbroken by the tragedy and offered support. A memorial that included dozens of balloons continued to grow Monday afternoon in front of the burned-out home.
“It’s devastating,” Terrell told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Monday. “We’re holding each other together.”
The girls were having a sleepover Friday night when the fire engulfed the home around 1 a.m. Saturday. Alonna McCrary got out of the home, but returned for the children and died. The fire was ruled accidental.
Coweta County and state fire investigators believe the fire started in the house’s breaker box. “We are still in the initial stages, also looking at permits that may have been pulled for work at the residence from the building department,” Newnan police Chief Buster Meadows told Channel 2 Action News.
There was a smoke detector, but it was so burned up, officials don’t know if it was working properly.
On Saturday, a funeral is planned at 2 p.m. for McCrary and her two daughters at Saint Smyrna Baptist Church in Newnan, Terrell said. Other funeral plans have not yet been finalized, she said.In addition to 11-year-old Molly McCrary, McCrary is survived by two daughters, ages 6 and 10, who were not at home at the time of the blaze.
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