An Erie mother accused of leaving her young children home alone when a fire broke out in their apartment March 29 and who died as a result has turned herself in to face third-degree murder and other charges.
Danozjna S.M. Williams, 22, turned herself in to the Erie Bureau of Police on the late evening of May 7, according to police and city police arrest records. She was arraigned May 8 on three counts of third-degree murder, along with felony counts of endangering the welfare of children and aggravated assault and on misdemeanor counts of recklessly endangering another person.
Williams was jailed without bond following her arraignment by Erie 1st Ward District Judge Christine Rush, and she is tentatively scheduled to appear in court for a preliminary hearing May 28, according to court records.
A lawyer for Williams was not listed on her criminal docket sheet May 8.
An Erie woman accused of leaving her three children alone when they died in a fire at an apartment at 535 1/2 E. 26th St. on the afternoon of March 29 was jailed without bond May 8 on third-degree murder and other charges after turning herself in to Erie police.
Erie police, in a criminal complaint filed May 6, accuse Williams of leaving her three children — 5-year-old Tobias Huff , 3-year-old Da’Lilya Huff, and 5-month-old Amirah Al-Mansouri — home alone in their second-floor apartment at 535½ E. 26th St. on the afternoon of March 29. A fire broke out in the apartment’s kitchen while Williams was gone, and Erie Bureau of Fire crews found the children in a bedroom and rescued them from the burning apartment.
Tobias and Da’Lilya were pronounced dead at UPMC Hamot after being rushed there from the scene. Amirah died April 3 at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh.
Investigators charge in Williams’s criminal complaint that she left home to deliver drugs to a person in Corry. She had told police she went to Walmart, and that her brother was supposed to watch the children, according to information in the complaint.
The cause of the fire was ruled as undetermined, but it is still under investigation, police said May 8.
Contact Tim Hahn at thahn@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Mom whose children died in Erie fire turns self in, jailed on murder