4 Girls Found Dead in Home; Cause Unclear

In a case filled with unanswered questions, four children were found dead Wednesday in their Santa Clarita home after someone inside the residence set a fire that injured a fifth sibling and their mother, authorities said.

Firefighters found the four girls--ages 5, 7, 11 and 12--dead in the home in the 27400 block of Cherry Creek Drive at 1:17 p.m. Their older brother, 14-year-old David Nieves, and their mother, Sandi Nieves, 34, were in stable condition at a local hospital after being treated for smoke inhalation.

The four girls were found sprawled in the kitchen in their nightclothes, blankets and sleeping bags in a “slumber party type of atmosphere,” sheriff’s Sgt. David Halm said.

The cause of death was unclear. They had not been beaten, shot, stabbed or burned, he said. There was no indication of how long they had been dead.

There were no signs of forced entry, indicating that whoever was responsible apparently had access to the house. “It’s obviously a deliberately set fire,” Halm said.

Homicide investigators used a search warrant to enter the home Wednesday afternoon and found a container with a flammable liquid that could have been used to start the fire, authorities said.

“We have reason to believe that somebody inside may have been involved. We are investigating it as a homicide,” said Lt. Frank Merriman of the sheriff’s homicide bureau. “We don’t believe this is an accidental death by any means.”

Merriman said sheriff’s officials were planning to question Nieves and her son in connection with the deaths.

David Folden, father of the four dead girls, spoke only briefly when contacted by phone Wednesday before becoming overcome with emotion. Folden and Nieves divorced in August, according to Riverside County court records.

He said the youngest girl was his biological child and that he had adopted the three older girls.

“I just lost my family. I can’t talk about what happened,” said Folden, who lives in Perris.

The timing of the fire was one of the biggest questions surrounding the blaze Wednesday. Neighbors reported smelling smoke from the home as early as 5 a.m. Wednesday, nearly eight hours before fire officials say Sandi Nieves called 911 to report a fire in the home. She had been unable to wake her sleeping children, she said.

One neighbor said she saw the children’s mother walk outside the house around 1 p.m. and use a cellular phone to call police.

“When the mom came out, no one seemed to be that upset,” said Michelle Jernigan, 22, who lives directly across the street from the home. “We thought maybe it was a kitchen fire.”

The mother and her son were treated with oxygen outside the home after the incident. Both were covered in soot. The boy wore only shorts; the mother, shorts and a T-shirt.

Neighbors were stunned to learn of the four deaths because the blaze did little damage to the exterior of the home.

Jim Jernigan, 51, said he smelled smoke around 12:30 p.m. but that he thought it was coming from the canyon. “There was no visible smoke or anything. It was kind of like a brush fire after it’s been put out,” he said.

Friends identified one of the little girls as Rashel Nieves-Folden, who graduated from the sixth grade at Santa Clarita Elementary School on June 12 in a cap and gown ceremony.

In her school yearbook, Nieves-Folden said she wanted to be a lawyer when she grew up so she could earn money and “live in a nice house.” She listed Christmas as her favorite holiday.

“She was shy, but she had a lot of friends,” said classmate David Medina, 11. “She wanted to be known as the new kid on the block so she could have more friends next year. She didn’t talk too much in class; she just focused on her work.”

The family apparently moved into the neighborhood of middle-class homes in January from Perris. Elaine Hoggan, principal of Palms Elementary School in Perris, said Nieves was a good parent.

“The mother, she was a very concerned mother, one of the kind you treasure in a school,” Hoggan said. “She really cared about her kids.”

Myron Groch, principal of Santa Clarita Elementary where three of the girls attended school, said the girls had made a strong impression on teachers and students during their short time at the school.

“They were really nice kids and good students,” Groch said. “This is a major tragedy.”

Miller and Blankstein are Times staff writers. Satzman is a correspondent. Times staff writers Julie Tamaki and Amy Oakes and correspondent Claire Vitucci contributed to this story.