Mother Receives Probation in St. Louis Fire that Claimed Three Children Left Home Alone

The mother received probation after pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter after the 2019 fire left killed children, ages 6 months, 4 and 5.

By Katie Kull

Source St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Aug. 24, 2025

2 min read

A prosecutor said one of the children was seen playing with a light before the October 2019 fire that claimed the lives of three children who were left home alone.

ST. LOUIS — A fire that killed three young children left unattended at a St. Louis public housing project likely started on a bedroom mattress, prosecutors said Friday.

Da’Juana Coleman was sentenced Friday to probation in the deaths of her children — ages 5, 4 and six months.

Before the fire, one child had been seen playing with a cigarette lighter, said prosecutor Jeremy Crowley.

“Ultimately, the children died of smoke inhalation,” Crowley said.

On Oct. 20, 2019, firefighters were called to the Clinton-Peabody public housing complex in the 1100 block of South 14th Street.

Neighbors had seen smoke coming from the window and kicked in the door, trying to rescue the kids, but the smoke was too thick for them to go inside, a fire captain said at the time.

Firefighters pulled two of the children, 4-year-old Heaven Coleman and 5-year-old Dream Coleman, from the home, and they were taken to a hospital, where they died. By the time investigators found 6-month-old Damarion Eiland, he was dead on a mattress.

It is unclear why Coleman, now 29, left the home or how long she was gone.

But on Friday, she pleaded guilty to three counts of involuntary manslaughter in a deal with prosecutors. She declined to comment to a reporter afterward.

“It’s a tragedy beyond words, isn’t it?” Judge Scott Millikan asked her.

“Yes it is,” Coleman said.

“I wish you the best of luck,” Millikan said.

Coleman is set to serve three years on probation. If she violates the conditions of her release, she could be sentenced to 10 years in prison.