A child died in a mobile home fire, North Carolina cops say. Now a man is charged
A man is facing charges after a child died in a fire at a mobile home, North Carolina officials said.
William Howell is accused of being intoxicated when he turned on a kitchen stove to make food. Howell, the only adult in the home, then left the stove unattended, according to the Lenoir County Sheriff’s Office.
“It is believed that Howells’ intoxication and negligence of leaving the stove on ultimately led to death of the juvenile,” officials said after conducting an investigation into the fire that broke out on Nov. 21.
Howell turned himself in on charges related to the blaze last week, officials announced. He had been wanted for involuntary manslaughter, the sheriff’s office wrote in a Facebook post on Feb 14.
Officials in their post didn’t share attorney information for Howell.
The fire tore through a mobile home on Water Chestnut Drive in Kinston, roughly 80 miles southeast of Raleigh. When crews arrived at the burning home, they found “very substantial” damage and three people in need of treatment, McClatchy News reported.
“Unfortunately, though, there was a juvenile inside the home and the juvenile passed away in the fire,” the sheriff’s office wrote in a Nov. 21 Facebook post, which didn’t identify the child.
After his office identified Howell as a suspect, Sheriff Ronnie Ingram wrote: “numerous firefighters, paramedics, fire investigators, law enforcement officers, family and others have felt deep hurt for the loss of such a young person. These tragic cases are never easy, but the detectives and others involved in the investigation have pushed through, to find evidence of negligence.”
This story was originally published February 15, 2022 at 9:02 AM with the headline "A child died in a mobile home fire, North Carolina cops say. Now a man is charged."
