The smell of smoke lingered in the air of the Rollingwoods Apartments neighborhood in West Covina on Monday, March 6, a day after a fire left a woman and two children dead in the early morning.
An impromptu memorial was growing Monday near the home of the victims. Family friends, residents of the complex and media reports identified the victims as a grandmother, Georgina Yracheta and her two grandchildren, 2-year-old Solomon and infant Luna Doughton. Floral arrangements, candles and three wooden crosses were surrounded by colorful crayon-shaped chalk, an array of stuffed toys and a framed photo of the family.
Fire officials continue to investigate the cause of the fire, though authorities said it isn’t suspicious in origin. As of Monday evening, the coroner’s office had not yet identified the three victims.
“It was a shock, I’m standing here and I still can’t believe it, I keep thinking this isn’t real,” said America Tovar, visiting the memorial on Monday afternoon. Tovar said she was a friend of Georgina for many years – since attending high school together in La Puente.
“She was so loving and protective,” Tovar said of her friend, who was babysitting the children while the parents were out. “She was a doting grandma, she really loved (her grandchildren). She was just a beautiful soul.”
Tovar said that her friend’s family had lived in the apartment for a little over a year. She said that her and her friend were “super close,” they were living down the street from one another in West Covina.
“They were pretty much a close-knit family and I can’t even imagine the devastation of losing both their mother and children,” Tovar said about Georgina’s son, Enrique Doughton and his wife, Pamela — Solomon and Luna’s parents.
A 9-1-1 caller reported a fire at the apartment complex in the 1900 block of East Amar Road at 12:54 a.m. on Sunday, according to Jim Rudroff, an assistant fire chief at the West Covina Fire Department.
The…
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