West Virginia Mom Allegedly Killed Kids by Setting Their Beds on Fire and Locking Trailer Doors
A West Virginia woman allegedly killed her young sons intentionally by setting fire to their beds and locking the door of their trailer home, PEOPLE confirms.
A statement issued by the West Virginia State Fire Marshals confirms Wednesday’s arrest of Molly Joe Delgado, 28, of Falling Waters, for the Jan. 24 fire deaths of her boys Delmer, 3, and Justin, 5.
Delgado faces murder and arson charges.
According to a criminal complaint obtained by PEOPLE, Delgado allegedly set fire to her sons’ beds as they slept.
She exited her family’s trailer, allegedly locking both boys and her husband inside.
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Smoke awoke Delgado’s husband, who tried to save their sons but was unable to do so because of the flames. Delgado’s husband survived the fire.
Delgado’s father, Drew McCombs, who lives across the street, heard his son-in-law crying for help from a kitchen window and opened the trailer door, which had been secured from the outside, the criminal complaint alleges.
According to reports, McCombs tried to save his grandsons, but the heavy smoke made it impossible for him to find the boys.
“I got in there and I couldn’t see, I couldn’t see nothing — at all,” McCombs told the Associated Press. “I couldn’t find them.”
Delmer and Justin Delgado were pronounced dead at the scene.
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Wednesday’s arrest follows a six-week investigation that involved personnel from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit, the Loudoun County Fire Marshal, the West Virginia State Police and the Berkeley County Sheriff’s Department.
Delgado is being held without bail and has yet to enter a plea to the three charges she is facing.
Court records do not indicate if she has a lawyer and efforts to reach her relatives Friday were unsuccessful.
