POMPANO BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Authorities say a Florida woman faces a negligence charge after her two daughters were killed in an apartment fire.
The Broward Sheriff’s Office says 22-year-old Jeny Yosselin Melendez-Ramirez was arrested Friday.
Pompano Beach Fire Rescue responded to the family’s Banyan Club apartment last Saturday after neighbors called to report smoke. The fire was extinguished, and firefighters found the bodies of 5-month-old Abigail Espinoza and 5-year-old Sofia Melendez.
Melendez-Ramirez told investigators she had left her daughters and 2-year-old son with her 16-year-old sister while she went to work. Deputies say the sister had taken the boy to Walmart to buy baby food and left the girls home alone.
The teenage sister and surviving child have been placed in state custody.
Jail records didn’t list an attorney for Melendez-Ramirez.
