SC Woman Arrested For Starting Fire That Killed Her Daughter.

A woman from South Carolina has been charged with murder after her daughter died in a housefire in 2020. Carlene Ratcliffe was arrested for murder and homicide by child abuse charges and two counts of first degree arson. 

Carlene Ratcliffe allegedly lit her house on fire and left her 6-year-old daughter, Caeli, inside. The fire killed Caeli, and injured her grandmother and two firefighters. 

People Magazine reports that Ratcliffe allegedly set her house on fire around 5:40 p.m. on November 25, 2020, and subsequently abandoned her sleeping child inside. She did not report the fire. Ratcliffe’s mother and Caeli’s grandmother, Barbara Newton, was at the grocery store at the time Ratcliffe started the fire. When she returned home to find the building ablaze, she rushed in to try and rescue her granddaughter. She suffered severe burns in the attempt and had to be flown to the Jospeh M. Still Burn Center in Augusta, Georgia, for treatment.

Firefighters responded to reports of a house fire, but by the time they arrived, the building was already completely engulfed in flames. 

Two of the firefighters sustained burns attempting to rescue the girl, but were unsuccessful. Caeli had been asleep when the fire started, and officials later determined that she died from smoke inhalation.

Ratcliffe was only arrested last Friday, 7/01/2022, and has yet to file pleas in response to the alleged charges. Detectives have not divulged possible motives.