A 33-year-old man has pleaded not guilty to murder charges related to a southern Illinois house fire that killed four children.
Derrick Twardoski made his first court appearance Monday in Randolph County on four first-degree murder counts linked to the blaze three days earlier in Percy, a village 60 miles southeast of St. Louis. A judge ordered him jailed without bond and assigned him to be represented by a public defender.
State's Attorney Jeremy Walker says he doesn't consider the fire random, though he's declined to detail what led investigators to Twardoski or any relationship he may have had with the victims. Walker didn't return telephone messages left Monday by The Associated Press.
Earlier:
A 33-year-old man facing murder charges related to a southern Illinois house fire that killed four children is expected to make his first court appearance Monday.
Randolph County prosecutors charged Derrick Twardoski on Friday with four first-degree murder counts linked to the blaze early that day in Percy, a village 60 miles southeast of St. Louis.
State's Attorney Jeremy Walker says he doesn't consider the fire random, though he's declined to detail what led investigators to Twardoski or any relationship he may have had with the victims.
Authorities say the dead included siblings ages 12, 9, and 5-year-old twins. A 6-year-old child was treated at a hospital for smoke inhalation, and the children's parents and an 18-year-old woman escaped the fire.
Twardoski is jailed without bond.
Sunday:
Services are set for four siblings killed in a southern Illinois house fire authorities have blamed on a man now facing murder charges.
Investigators say 12-year-old Ethan Owen, 9-year-old Kailey Owen and 5-year-old twins Brandon Owen and Landon Owen died in the blaze early Friday in the Randolph County village of Percy. That's about southeast of St. Louis.
Services for the children will be at 2 p.m. Tuesday at St. Mark's Lutheran Church in Steeleville, followed by burial in the church cemetery.
