Mom Charged In Fatal Fire That Killed 3 Children

CHICAGO (STNG) - A Southeast Side woman has been charged for the death of her three children in a Wednesday morning house fire, police said.

Charlene Cheatem, 24, of the 8300 block of South Buffalo Avenue, was charged early Friday with three counts of child endangerment that caused death, police said.

Cheatem is scheduled to appear for a Friday bond hearing at the Cook County Criminal Courthouse (Br. 66) at 2600 S. California Ave., police said.

The fire started about 10:40 a.m. in the three-story building where Cheatem lived and was elevated to a still-and-box alarm, Fire Media Affairs Director Eve Rodriguez said.

Three children were dead on the scene and firefighters rescued a 4-year-old, who was taken to the University of Chicago Comer Children’s Hospital, Rodriguez said.

The three dead children were found in the third-floor bedroom. Firefighters rescued the fourth from the second floor, where he was found sitting and playing, 23rd Battalion Fire Chief Rosalind Jones said.

Sharon Lockhart, sister of the children’s father, identified the dead as Jimmy Gates, 7 months; Tyrell Gates, 2; and Sherell Gates, 3.

A Thursday autopsy determined all three children died of smoke inhalation from a house fire, the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office said.

Neighbor Josette Wardell, 37 said she talked to Cheatem after the fire and was told she had run downstairs to check the mail and when she went back upstairs the house was on fire.

Wardell said Cheatem is a mother of five -- including the three dead children and the fourth child who was hospitalized. The fifth child attends Sullivan Elementary.

Devonte Appleton, who identified the children as his nephews, said the hospitalized boy is “doing fine. They say he has some smoke inhalation.”

The child who attends Sullivan Elementary was placed in the care of relatives following the fire, according to Illinois Department of Children and Family Services spokesman Jimmie Whitelow, who said DCFS is investigating the deaths of the three children but has had no prior contact with the family.

The fire began on the third floor of the home and spread to the attic and roof of the building to the north -- at 8336 S. Buffalo, Rodriguez said. The second building sustained extensive damage.

Firefighters found a smoke detector on the second floor, but it was not working. There were no other smoke detectors found in the home, Fire Commissioner John Brooks said.

The American Red Cross of Greater Chicago provided food, clothing, shelter and emotional support to nine people -- five children and four adults.

The blaze was extinguished at 11:25 a.m. and the cause remains under investigation Thursday morning, the Chicago Fire Department said.