HARRIS COUNTY, Texas — A grandmother found dead in a northwest Harris County house fire suffered from suspicious wounds that are now under investigation, according to a recent update from the sheriff's office.
The 53-year-old victim's wounds were "not consistent with a house fire" the Harris County Sheriff's Office said in a release. No other details were given.
Investigators said her graddaughters, ages 8 and 10, and the children's father escaped the home with injuries, including smoke inhalation. HCSO said the three are still in the hospital Saturday and are stable.
Now their family is looking for answers as they search for what the cause of the fire. They said the two girls are fighting for their lives along with their father after being injured during the house fire.
“My niece called my daughter and said her house was on fire. She was on the way to the hospital with her little girl,” Lolita Wilson, sister of victim, said. “When I got here, the fire chief said my sister didn’t make it.”
She said her sister’s name was Tammie.
VIDEO: Family members of grandmother found dead in house fire want answers. KHOU 11 reporter Brittany Ford reports:
The Harris County Fire Marshal’s office said the victim was home with her two granddaughters when the fire started around 5 a.m. Friday in the 2700 block of Trementina just south of W. Mount Houston Road.
“She didn’t live here. She was being a grandma,” Britanny, daughter of the victim, said. “Stayed the night to take the kids to school, being a grandma doing her part.”
She still in disbelief about the news.
“I just stayed the night with them New Year's Eve. Now you are telling me I don’t have my mother. Something is not right about that,” she said.
Fire investigators said the mother and father of the two girls weren’t at home at the time of the fire, but rushed back as soon as they got word of it.
“The dad had some lacerations. I believe he went in trying to get the girls out,” Rachel Neutzler, with the Harris County Fire Marshal’s Office, said.
The father and his two daughters did make it out and were treated for smoke inhalation.
“I’m not going to be OK, my family is not going to be OK,” Britanny said. “This is all new and very shocking. We just ask that the city give us prayers please.”
Fire officials said the fire was contained in a front room of the house.
The fire marshal said there were no working smoke detectors inside the home.
The origin and cause of the fire remain under investigation.