Woman abandoned grandchildren in burning house where they died, Waco police say

The grandmother of two children who died in a fire in Waco on Nov. 2 was charged with reckless injury to a child for allegedly not helping them escape.

Andrea Aleman, 44, “abandoned her grandchildren in a burning house and took no action to get them help” until it was too late, the Waco Police Department said.

The fire killed 4-year-old Anthony Cole Puente and 2-year-old Rachel Rose Aleman. It happened in the 1200 block of Webster at about 1:30 a.m. The home didn’t have working fire alarms.

Aleman was charged on Thursday.

According to fire officials, Aleman and her 11-year-old child escaped the blaze. The Waco Tribune reported that the fire was started in the back kitchen by an occupant.

Investigators said that Aleman changed her story of what happened multiple times. At some point, she told them she went to bed and left Anthony awake and unsupervised in a room where there were multiple fire hazards, according to an affidavit for her arrest.

Both of the young children alerted Aleman to the fire, but instead of evacuating, the affidavit says she stayed in bed for several minutes. When she did leave, police say she didn’t help Anthony and Rachel escape. Both children died of smoke inhalation.

Police say that Aleman was the first person to exit the house, according to the surviving child.