The mother of the boy who died in a tragic Christmas Eve fire in Craig is potentially facing up to 12 years behind bars after prosecutors accused her of the criminally negligent death of her child, 3-year-old Lane Ernest Cullen.
According to arrest records, 26-year-old Vanessa Allison Jenkins was arrested April 3 on a charge of child abuse negligently causing death.
A 13-page redacted arrest warrant affidavit obtained by the Craig Press Thursday details the circumstances surrounding the fire, in which Jenkins found herself waking up on the couch to her home ablaze and her child screaming as the room he was in was engulfed in flames.
According to the affidavit, officers with the Craig Police Department responded to the 1900 block of Woodland Avenue about 10:30 a.m. Christmas Eve to find smoke and flames billowing from the home and a woman, later identified as Jenkins, “yelling that her child was still inside.”
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