Background: The house in Greensboro, N.C., where the fire burned (WXII/YouTube). Inset: Brandi Sturdivant (WXII/YouTube).
A North Carolina mother”s future has been sealed after she admitted to causing a fire that burned her home and killed her three young children.
Brandi Sturdivant, 32, was charged with three counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of her three kids, the Greensboro Police Department announced in the aftermath of the fire.
This week, the defendant pleaded guilty and was sentenced to between 30 years and 36 years in prison, regional Fox affiliate WGHP reported.
On Dec. 12, 2022, Sturdivant was at her house on Grimsley Street in Greensboro, a midsize city in the central area of North Carolina. At about 8 a.m., the home caught fire, and 1-year-old twins and a 4-year-old child were trapped inside.
The children were home without an adult, police said. When authorities caught up with Sturdivant, she reportedly told them that she was using a stove in the home’s living room to heat it up, and she believed that may have been the source of the fire.
According to prosecutors, it was neighbors, not the mother, who called 911 and tried to help. Responding officers found Sturdivant at the end of the street falling out of a car and crying, regional NBC affiliate WXII reported.
First responders found the children huddled together and burned. An autopsy determined that they died from smoke inhalation and carbon monoxide poisoning.
Neighbors reportedly referred to Sturdivant as “the crazy lady next door,” and authorities said she told them she was going to kill herself. Not only did she apparently turn the oven on before she left the home, but she dialed it up to 500 degrees.
Investigators reportedly later discovered that the oven was not actually the cause of the fire but that something in the back of the home caused the blaze. They were unable to determine exactly what that cause was, though a gasoline can was found on the front stoop of the home.
