Chicago suburb- 4 dead

[NJFFSA16]

SCHAUMBURG, Ill. (AP) - A house fire Sunday morning in Chicago's
northwest suburbs has left four people dead, authorities said.
Fire and police officials arrived at the home around 5 a.m. and
found it engulfed in flames, Schaumburg Police Lt. Dennis Carroll
said.
Firefighters extinguished the intense blaze a short time later.
When authorities entered the split-level home, officials found four
bodies lying in the back of the residence in the family room,
Carroll said.
The identities of the victims have not been released, but
Carroll described them as "young adults."
Three children, who were related to at least one of the victims,
were at the home when the blaze broke out, but they were able to
escape unharmed, Carroll said.
He said the children's parents were not among the victims.
Police were interviewing the children - a 14-year-old girl and
her two younger brothers, ages 6 and 5 - to help determine what
happened. Carroll said the girl was asleep in an upstairs bedroom
when the fire started and she was able to wake up her two younger
brothers and escape.
"We don't know what started the blaze," Carroll said. "We're
pretty much conducting it as a criminal investigation."

(Copyright 2002 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[NJFFSA16]

SCHAUMBURG, Ill. (AP) - Dental records will probably be the only
way to identify the four victims of a house fire in this
northwestern Chicago suburb, authorities said.
The victims of the fire early Sunday were believed to be a
17-year-old resident of the house and three of his friends, but
authorities were unable to release identities late Sunday.
"To give you an idea of the conditions of the bodies, some
parts of the bodies were no longer there," said Schaumburg fire
Lt. Dennis Carroll. "That's how severe and how hot this fire
got."
Fire and police officials arrived at the home around 5 a.m. and
found it engulfed in flames, Dennis Carroll said.
Firefighters extinguished the intense blaze a short time later.
When authorities entered the split-level home, officials found four
bodies lying in the back of the residence in the family room,
Carroll said.
Three children, who were related to at least one of the victims,
were at the home when the blaze broke out, but they were able to
escape unharmed, Carroll said.
He said the children's mother, Cypriana MacNeal-Young, was not
among the victims.
"She was out with a friend," Carroll said.
Police were interviewing the children - Cypriana Lauren, 12, and
her two younger brothers, Justice, 6, and John, 5 - to help
determine what happened. Carroll said the girl was asleep in an
upstairs bedroom when the fire started and she was able to wake up
her two younger brothers and escape.
"She was sure a brave little girl because she got the two
little kids out of the house," said neighbor Rosemary Maurice.
Two other children from the family, Joshua, 8, and Cynthia, 7,
were staying with relatives, and were not at home at the time of
the fire, authorities said.
Maurice and other neighbors said the family's oldest son, Juan
Cernak-Young, 17, was unaccounted for. They said three friends had
been staying with him Saturday night.
Another Schaumburg resident, William Foster, said his son, Billy
Jr., 16, had not returned home since telling his parents that he
was going to spend Saturday night at the house that burned.
"We don't know what happened, so we don't know what to say,"
the elder Foster said Sunday. "All we know is we have lost a
son."
Neighbors described the family as close-knit, and said the
mother worked two full-time jobs to keep her children together and
in school.
The cause of the fire was still unknown late Sunday.
"We don't know what started the blaze," Carroll said. "We're
pretty much conducting it as a criminal investigation."

(Copyright 2002 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)