S.C. Mom Whose Four Kids Died in Fire Stays in Jail

May 21--DARLINGTON, S.C. -- A woman whose four children died in an April 24 Hartsville mobile home fire will likely have to wait until June before she will have a chance to bond out of jail.

That decision came from Judge Paul Burch at a hearing on Hope Hawkins' $80,000 bond in Darlington Tuesday morning.

"Unless something really surprising pops up, I am probably going to grant you some relief in June," Burch ruled in a bond reduction hearing on Hope Hawkins.

The judge said he wants investigators to find out where Hawkins was when her mobile home caught fire.

Hope Hawkins, 21, is charged with four counts each of homicide by child abuse and unlawful conduct towards a child in connection with the deaths of her small children -- 2-year-old Camaron Mason, 4-year-old Delonta Dixon and twin, 10-month-old sisters Myasia Hawkins and Kynasia Hawkins.

She was arrested April 25.

Fourth Circuit Deputy Solicitor Sherry Baugh said the state also plans to present four counts of involuntary manslaughter to the grand jury for consideration in addition to the other charges.

The motion for bond reduction was made by Hawkins' defense attorney, Tonya Little.

Little argued that the night before fire, Hawkins spent the night with her oldest child at Carolina Pines Hospital doing a sleep study on him because of his asthma.

That speaks volumes about the kind of parent she was, Little argued to Burch.

A Department of Social Services investigation that the oldest child was not being fed properly -- conducted "years ago" -- was determined to be unfounded, Little said. Hawkins has never been arrested before, according to a SLED records check obtained by the Morning News.

A Darlington County investigator testified that when questioned about the fire, Hawkins initially said she was inside her residence when she heard her children crying. She said she went to the room they were in, opened the door and the room was on fire. She said she couldn't get the children out.

Later, she told investigators she was outside at the mailbox when the fire broke out.

The investigator said neighbors reported they witnessed Hawkins running back toward the home after fire started, "that basically she wasn't there when the fire started."

No evidence of drugs or alcohol was discovered in residence, according to court testimony.

Troy Dixon, uncle of one of the children, also addressed the judge.

"We want to know what happened. A mother shouldn't have left her kids unattended," Dixon said.

Darlington County Sheriff Wayne Byrd said Hawkins was not at the scene when firefighters first arrived but showed up soon after.

"She left them alone in the house," Byrd said at a press conference after the fire. "It's senseless. It's an incident that didn't have to happen. They didn't have to die."

Fire officials said the fire appears to have started in the kitchen but so far, they have not been able to pinpoint the exact cause of the blaze.

"The kitchen was the hottest part of trailer," Hartsville Fire Chief Jeff Burr said. "That's how we know where it started."

Hartsville firefighters received the fire call at 1:53 p.m. and were en route to the address in the 800 block of Depot Street within a minute, said Hartsville public information officer Russell Cox. When firemen arrived at 1:57 p.m., the structure was heavily involved in fire.

Firefighters had the fire controlled within 10 minutes and found the children together in one room as they conducted a search of the mobile home.

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