Authorities: Mother not at home during fatal North Side fire

A preliminary investigation into the north Minneapolis house fire that killed three young children in early October has found that their mother was not home at the time of the blaze.

Fire investigators said Monday they are ruling out arson as the cause of the early morning fire, but they are still trying to determine where the mother of the children, Taneisha Stewart, was at the time.

Authorities do “not believe Ms. Stewart was present inside the home at the time of the fire,” Police Sgt. Sean McKenna wrote in a search warrant application filed Friday in Hennepin County District Court, which also noted that she had been drinking that night. “The lack of a competent adult inside the home with three sleeping juveniles under the age of seven is a factor” in their deaths.

http://www.startribune.com/authorities-mother-not-at-home-during-fatal-north-side-fire/332069702/