In April, five children were killed at this house at 428 North 7th in Quincy. The children's parents as well as a mother from another unrelated fire were both indicted by an Adams County, Illinois Grand Jury on Thursday.
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QUINCY, ILL. -- Thursday morning an Adams County grand jury indicted Keith and Geanetta Clark and Mary Thron (thrown) in the deaths of their children in two fires earlier this year.
In the first case, both Keith Clark and Geanetta Clark face a charge of endangering the life of a child.
Neither of them were home when the fire that killed all five of their children started here at their home in April.
You'll remember that Zach Meeks already is charged with setting that fire.
In fact, he's scheduled to enter his plea on Friday.
In the second case, Mary Thron of 816 South 18th was indicted after her four-year-old son died from smoke inhalation at their home.
Adams County State's Attorney Jon Barnard says he expects all three parents will come in voluntarily to answer the charges.
He initially said he wasn't going to charge these families. How did we get here?
"We didn't have enough evidence. The investigation was ongoing at the time I made that tentative decision," says Adams County State's Attorney Jon Barnard.
No doubt these indictments will get people talking.
Already Thursday afternoon we've heard some of citizens say the parents should pay for leaving their kids home alone.
Others say the families have suffered enough.
Bruce Scott witnessed the blaze in the early morning hours of April 15. He says he saw Zachary Meeks go into the house next door. A few minutes later, Scott heard an explosion and saw the night sky light up orange.
"He runs from the building. His pant leg is on fire. I tried to help him put the fire out on his leg," Scott said.
That was before Scott knew what had happened at the home next door. The building has been torn down, but a memorial to the five kids still stands.
Bruce Scott sees a different world these days as he sits on his sister's porch steps. He now goes to counseling because he's haunted by the events of April 15. We found him on the front porch again, and he gave us his opinion of the grand jury indictment.
"These people have suffered enough. I understand the State's Attorney wants to...I would call it negligent because the oldest child was ten years old. But to put these people in prison is more punishment than they deserve. They have to live the rest of their lives knowing their children died in this manner," adds Scott.
But emotions don't play in the justice system.
"We certainly have the same concerns that every human being will have when there's a loss of life...especially under these circumstances...but the oath this office imposes on me is to make decisions based on evidence," Barnard said.
And what that evidence is, we'll have to wait and see. All dealings concerning the grand jury are secret, but as this case moves toward trial, we'll learn more about why the grand jury voted to put these parents on trial.
If these parents are convicted of these charges, they could get probation to ten years in prison.
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