PITTSBURGH (AP) -- For 15 years, homicide detectives knew only that a house fire that killed two toddlers had been caused by a dog that had been set ablaze.
On Wednesday, investigators announced they had solved the mystery of the burning dog: The children's mother and a friend, they alleged, had set the pet on fire because one of the toddlers was allergic to it and the dog wouldn't run away.
Detectives, who had kept pictures of the children on their desks, reinterviewed about 20 witnesses and at least one offered more details in recent weeks, Cmdr. Maurita Bryant said in explaining how the case was broken.
``People that were in a fast lifestyle back in the day - they settled down into a more responsible lifestyle and things like this affect them more now,'' Bryant said. ``They wanted to get things off their chest.''
Court papers show those statements led police to again question the children's mother and her friend. Both gave statements blaming the dog fire on one another - but both admitted being present when it was set.
Tequilla Fields, 34, the children's mother, and her friend, Lachan Russell, 29, were jailed without bond on criminal homicide charges. Police said they also planned to file charges of arson and reckless endangerment against both women.
Firefighters arrived at the Pittsburgh home around 2:30 a.m. on July 11, 1990, but could not save Fields' children, Montelle Thornhill, 2, and Charita Thornhill, 3.
Montelle was allergic to the dog, but his great-grandmother - with whom the family lived - refused to get rid of it, Bryant said.
Fields, whose name then was Tequilla Newsome, tried to shoo the dog from the home but it wouldn't run away, police said. Later, she took the dog to downtown Pittsburgh, but the animal found its way back to the house, several miles away. That's when, Bryant said, Fields and Russell decided to douse the dog in kerosene and set it afire.
Tied to the house, the burning dog ran up onto the porch, setting fire to a couch, and the fire spread from there, police said.
Russell told police that the children's mother wanted to kill the dog because her ``Granny'' was too strict, according to a police affidavit. Each woman blamed the other for pouring either kerosene or charcoal lighter on the dog. But both women agreed on one fact - they made a ``street pact'' not to tell authorities about the fire once they saw the house go up in flames.
William Mullen was the lead detective at the time of the fire. Now the city's deputy chief, Mullen assigned the case in April to cold-case detectives, who kept the children's pictures on their desks, Bryant said.
``The detectives looked at the pictures, looked at the photos of the children because it was almost like (the children) were saying, 'Don't nobody care how we died, don't nobody care,''' Bryant said.
The children's great-grandmother, who has since died, saw the dog on fire and doused it with water, police said. The dog, Fay Lou, then ran inside the house and was later found dead, under Montelle's bed. Montelle was in the bed; his sister was found on her knees near a third-story window.
Their uncle, Andre Robinson, then 15, tried to save the children but couldn't find them in the thick smoke. He jumped from a third-floor window to save himself, police said.
Mullen said the mother and Russell had always been suspects.
``The children were burnt up in the fire,'' Mullen said. ``They didn't have a chance. It was extremely unfair. They didn't have a chance to live their lives.''
