“Flora Fire: A Chase for Answers“ is a four-part series that aired on WISH-TV covering the 2016 deaths of four young girls in an intentionally set fire in Flora, Indiana.

The Chase For Answers | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

FLORA, Ind. (WISH) — Only an empty lot now sits where four young sisters were killed when a fire tore through their home in Flora back in 2016.

It’s been seven years, and the girls’ mother, Gaylin Rose, says she still doesn’t know what happened that night.

Rose told I-Team 8 they had just moved into the home at the intersection of East Columbia Street and South Division Street that summer. She had chosen Flora as a place to start fresh with her four little girls.

She found the two-story duplex, which they rented for $500 per month, and says they were settling in comfortably with their routine. Rose had gotten a job at a nearby gas station while the girls started school.

Keyana Davis, 11, Keyara Phillips, 9, Kerriele McDonald, 7, and Kionnie Welch, 5, had started cheerleading and were finally getting settled and making friends.

Rose remembers putting the girls to bed in their bunkbeds upstairs that Sunday night. They were preparing for what was going to be a busy week ahead of them. She then retired to her own bedroom, which was on the lower level of the home and fell asleep.

It was after 3 a.m. when Rose says she woke up and jumped from the bed. The flames were spreading fast as she heard the girls scream for her from their upstairs room.

Rose tells I-Team 8 she tried desperately to get to them as the intense heat engulfed the small unit. Smoke filled her lungs as the flames pushed her back from the stairwell.  

Realizing she couldn’t get to the girls through the flames, Rose says she ran from the house to get help.

The first call to 911 came in at 3:35 a.m.

Rose was airlifted to Eskenazi’s burn center, according to records obtained by I-Team 8. The documents show she suffered burns over her body, including her corneas which were burned during the fire.

All four girls, Keyana, Keyara, Kerriele and Kionnie died in the fire.

Their death certificates, issued by the Indiana Department of Health, list asphyxiation and inhalation of carbon monoxide and soot as their cause of death.

In the days after the fire, vigils were held, and memorials were built outside the home which became surrounded by stuffed animals, candles and messages of love and support from a mourning community.

The fire was initially ruled “‘”undetermined” by the Indiana State Fire Marshal’s Office. At the time, investigators said it had likely originated in the kitchen area.

A few months later, the Indiana State Fire Marshal’s Office changed the cause of the fire to arson after they say accelerants were found throughout the home.

No arrests were ever made and no suspects were ever named.

Indiana State Police Superintendent Doug Carter promised a thorough investigation, promising to find the person or persons responsible.

“As long as I’m breathing air … we’re going to stay here, we’ll continue to move forward,” Carter said in November 2017.

The home, which stood as a constant reminder of the tragedy, was torn down last year after all parties involved agreed that it no longer needed to be preserved for the investigation.

Seven years later there are still many pieces of the investigation that remain a mystery.

“That is very heartbreaking for me,” Rose said. “I don’t have (any) understanding. I still don’t at all.”

In the next part of this series, Gaylin Rose sits down with I-Team 8’s Dakarai Turner to talk about that night and how she feels the investigation has failed her girls.

The Chase For Answers | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4