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 home.
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: Erial 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.
Terrell said she knew there were problems with the home’s hot water heater, but never could have imagined an accident like this. Terrell said the landlord knew about those problems and attempted to fix them.
“I didn’t have to tell him,” Terrell said. “Scana Energy left him notes around the hot water heater.”
Coweta County and state fire investigators believe the fire started in the house’s breaker box. Terrell said she didn’t know if the hot water heater problems were part of the cause.
“They’re trying to figure out how long it was a problem,” Terrell said.
But landlord Glenn Marlowe, of Moreland, said Saturday there was never an electrical problem in the home. Marlowe could not be reached for comment Monday afternoon.
“We have not been able to confirm if they were reported to him or not,” Newnan police Chief Buster Meadows told Channel 2 Action News. “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.”
Another relative, Roxanne Arnold, set up a donation account at Wells Fargo for those wishing to assist the family with funeral expenses, 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. Donations to assist Messiah White’s family can also be made at Wells Fargo to the Letoya Brown/Messiah White Memorial Fund.
A Facebook page was also created for those wishing to share condolences.
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. Interment will follow in the Sunset Cemetery. The family will receive friends Friday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Sellers-Smith Funeral Home in Newnan, according to the funeral home.
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.
The funeral for Messiah White will be held Friday at 2:30 p.m. at Saint Smyrna Baptist, followed by interment in the Eastview Cemetery. The family will receive friends Thursday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Funeral plans for McKenzie Florence have not yet been finalized.
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