Video Gallery

Two children killed in fire, mother charged 2:47

RAW VIDEO: House fire kills 2 children 0:29

Orgal Paulette Opata (Photo courtesy of the Mecklenburg County Jail)

CHARLOTTE, NC (WBTV) - Police have charged a Charlotte mother with child abuse and murder after two of her four children died in a house fire early Sunday morning.

The fire occurred around 6 a.m. at 920 Rowan Street in west Charlotte.

Monday morning, officials told WBTV the fire was accidental in nature and originated in a downstairs bedroom where a kerosene heater was located.

According to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, 26-year-old Orgal Paulette Opata left her children home alone late Saturday night.

“I’ve got five little ones and just seeing that sight this morning made me embrace my kids even more,” said William Smith who lives on the street where the fire occurred.

Neighbor Elizabeth Lane says she woke up around 6 a.m. Sunday and heard Opata’s oldest child, a 7-year-old girl, screaming for help from her front porch.

The house was already on fire.

“She told me her two little brothers were in there, which I knew because the flames were so big I couldn’t make it to the bedroom to get those two out,” said Lane.

Lane was able to rescue the girl and her 4-year-old brother.  However, the two youngest boys, 1-year-old Gabriel and 2-year-old Josiah Hawthorne, could not be saved.

When their father stopped by to see the burned home on Sunday, he held pictures of the children while tears streamed down his face.

Neighbors said he did not live in the house with the children’s mother.

Johnny Smith, who is a neighbor, said he occasional babysat Josiah.

“He was a pretty little boy, big-eyed boy,” said Smith.

He wasn’t surprised when he learned the children were left alone.

“They always leave them, this is not the first time that I know of that they leave them by themselves,” said Smith.

By Sunday afternoon, the CMPD charged the mother with two counts of murder, four counts of exposing children to fire, three counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and one count of burning resulting in serious injury to a fire fighter.  She is being held at the Mecklenburg County Jail.

According to records with the N.C. Department of Corrections, Opata spent six months in jail for stealing in 2001 in Guilford County.  She was sentenced to three years probation for possession of marijuana in 2007 and charged with child neglect last October.

Opata is scheduled to have a bond hearing in Mecklenburg County District Court on Tuesday at 1:30 p.m.

Reporter Sharon Smith is working on this story today and she will have more details on WBTV News 3 at 5 p.m.

SOURCE: http://www.wect.com/Global/story.asp?S=12058543