Mother Charged After 2 Children Die In Fire

COLUMBUS, Ohio—Four counts of child endangering have been filed against the mother of two children who died in an afternoon apartment fire that Ohio authorities believe was started by a child playing with a cigarette lighter.

Twenty-year-old Cheyenne Tackett of Piketon pleaded not guilty to the two felonies and two misdemeanors on Tuesday in Marion County Common Pleas Court.

Two-year-old Jacob Tackett and 8-month-old Madison Barrett died when the fire broke out in May in a bedroom at the apartment in Marion, about 40 miles north of Columbus.

Two other children were in the apartment at the time but were not seriously injured.

Tackett was being held in the Marion County jail Wednesday on $2,500 bond. A message seeking comment was left for her lawyer.

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