The mother of two children removed from a South Boston apartment fire officials called "unsanitary" during a death investigation spoke with NBC10 Boston Friday as authorities remained tight-lipped about the specific details of the case.
The incident happened Saturday at an apartment on Old Colony Avenue. A report from responders with the Boston Fire Department said six adults "who appeared to be males" were in the apartment, which "was in extreme unsanitary conditions." The report added that firefighters found four kids between the ages of 5 and 10 in a back room, hidden by a man.
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All of the adults were uncooperative and denied having kids inside, the report from Boston Fire said.
A police report at the time acknowledged a form had been filed with the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families.
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"I can't sleep. I can't eat. I just want my kids back," said Kiara, a South Boston woman and mother of two girls who were taken by DCF.
Boston EMS and the Boston Fire Department responded first to the scene.
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"They saw several transgender people, who are my friends, and one dead on the floor from cardiac arrest, they just assumed the worst," Kiara said.
Few new details have been revealed about the death investigation. But a new statement from the Boston Police Department Thursday conflicts with statements from the initial Boston Fire report, and with information relayed by city officials who had spoken with members of the fire department.
Earlier this week, City Councilor Erin Murphy told NBC10 Boston, "There was hoarding, lot of uncleanliness in the apartment, lots of sex toys and drug paraphernalia all over the place."
"There were four children on site who all had a parent present in the residence. The parents and the officers who responded felt it was best for the children to stay in another room with one of the parents and took steps to avoid having the children see the deceased. Due to the nature of the call, and to ensure appropriate follow up with the families involved, officers did file a 51A with DCF," the Boston Police Department wrote. "Information that drugs and other concerning materials were strewn about the home is not supported by what officers encountered or by the information received on the scene."
The police statement also said the adults in the apartment "were fully cooperative with the Boston Police Officers who responded" — conflicting directly with the account of firefighters.
"Right now, I'm open to just seeing why they didn't land on the same facts," Murphy said Friday.
Kiara said Friday that the children were being kept away from the dead body, as police said in their statement. She told NBC10 Boston she "absolutely" believes the Boston Fire Department was lying about the adults being uncooperative.
"Nobody was hiding the kids," she told NBC10 Boston. "We were trying to keep the kids away from the person who was dead on the floor. That's pretty traumatizing."
"The integrity of this company officer, and the firefighters who responded to South Boston the other night, is beyond reproach, cannot and should not be questioned," Sam Dillon, president of the Boston Firefighters Local 718, told NBC10 Boston Friday.
The Boston Fire Department has reiterated that it was only at the scene to render aid to the person who was not breathing, maintaining that this is now a police investigation.
