Being a single parent is demanding and takes a lot of time because they must spend their days and nights watching over their kids. But a woman, a single mother of five, chose to leave her young children at home in the middle of the night so she could see her boyfriend, forgetting that she had “mother obligations.”

S. Dunigan, a 31-year-old single mother of five young children, has been charged in connection with the deaths of her young children in a fire event that happened in their home in August while she was gone from home alone in the middle of the night.

The incident report states that Dunigan had left the second-floor flat the day before the fatal fire and was not at home when it started around 3 a.m. Dunigan supposedly left her Illinois home to pick up another adult from work, but it was later revealed that the adult in question was actually her boyfriend.

Five counts of endangering the life or health of a child have been brought against Dunigan as of earlier this month. Her five minor children, who range in age from 2 to 9, were the incident’s victims. Her oldest children were Deontae, age 9, her twins Heaven and Nevaeh, age 8, Jabari, age 4, and Loy-el, age 2.

A. Robinson, a family friend, was scheduled to arrive that morning with balloons, a table, and chairs to help celebrate Dunigan’s birthday when the tragedy occurred. He told the Post-Dispatch, “I went to my knees and almost passed out when I heard they were gone.

 

According to reports, Dunigan and her family were sharing an apartment with her parents, which had two living spaces on either side of a kitchen. The mother and the kids resided in the front, while Dunigan’s parents lived in the back, according to the investigators.

Dunigan’s parents and all of the kids were asleep when the fire broke out in the middle of the night. As soon as Dunigan’s parents noticed the smoke, they jumped out the window of their second-floor flat to safety. They were unable to even attempt to save their grandchildren because it was already too late.

According to a close family member, “the fire was already too bad in the portion where the children slept.”

After losing their previous home to fire as well, the family had relocated into the apartment a few months ago. Fortunately, nobody was hurt in that occurrence. Their prior apartment burned down for what seemed to be a “strange cause,” and Dunigan accused her ex-husband of starting the fire.