Another Andrea Yates here?
Posted on 02/28/2004 5:46:24 PM PST by Born Conservative
You're supposed to love and protect your children but police in Monroe County said a mother did something horrendous. She killed them. Police arrested Samantha Hirt, 28, early Friday morning.
Investigators said she started the deadly fire that killed her three year old daughter and two year old son Wednesday. Hirt is behind bars in Monroe County and her community is outraged.
A child's bike still sats in the front yard of the home near Kresgeville Friday, flowers were placed on the porch. "I think everybody is totally shocked," said neighbor Kathy Gleason. She lives across from what police now call a crime scene involving homicide and arson.
The home on Pine Lane where is where three year old Sarah Hirt and her two year old brother, Matthew, died. Investigators say their mother deliberately set fire to their home near Kresgeville Wednesday afternoon.
"It's hard to believe. You just don't expect things like that. It's a tragedy that the two kids died in the fire, that the kids were killed, but you don't want to hear something like that," said Gleason.
Samantha Hirt escaped the fire, and was treated for a cut on the hand, something that made some members of the community suspicious. "When they said last night that she cut her hand trying to get them out, it didn't make sense. If you were a real mother, you would go through flames trying to get them out. And she didn't," said Margaret Festa of Polk Township.
Police said they cracked the case when Hirt's story started to unravel. According to investigators, Wednesday's story that Hirt didn't know how the fire started changed Thurday to she may have started the fire in her daugther's bedroom. Hirt is being treated for depression and doctors treating her cut hand said she showed no emotion over the deaths of her children and was more concerned about getting stitches.
"My heart goes out to these children. But not to their mother," said Paul Festa of Polk Township. "I think it's a terrible thing, I really do. And she should get the same punishment she did to those children," added Margaret Festa.
"My heart goes out to the family and the children. You know how do you get over something like that. It's a real tragedy," said Gleason.
The children's father, who wasn't home when the fire started, is now preparing to bury Sarah and Matthew.
Another Andrea Yates here?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.