St. Clair County jury decides in case against mother of children killed in fire
A St. Clair County jury has found that an East St. Louis woman was partially to blame for the deaths of her five children in a fire four years ago.
Jurors rendered guilty verdicts for Sabrina Dunigan on two of five counts of endangering the life/health of a child, according to St. Clair County Circuit Court records.
Dunigan’s sentencing is set for Sept. 26.
The trial had been scheduled to begin Monday. Jurors rendered verdicts on Thursday. Dunigan couldn’t be reached for comment on Friday. Her Chicago attorney, Brittany Kimble, declined comment.
The fire occurred Aug. 6, 2021, in an apartment building on North 29th Street in East St. Louis. The family lived on the second floor.
“We are cognizant of the outpouring of sympathy for Ms. Dunigan,” State’s Attorney James Gomric said in a statement at the time of her arrest in November, three months after the fire.
“However, we are focused on the needless loss of innocent lives, and after due deliberation and consideration of all of the facts discovered through investigation, we have made the determination that requesting charges from the Grand Jury was warranted.
“My office takes seriously its responsibility to seek justice for the irresponsible and criminal acts leading to the avoidable deaths of these five young children,” the statement read.
The five children were home alone when the fire broke out, East St. Louis Assistant Fire Chief George McClellan said at the time.
Dunigan had left to pick up her boyfriend from work, he said. She told investigators that she was gone briefly, but a county prosecutors showed that she had been gone for an hour and 50 minutes. She reported the fire about 3:45 a.m., when she and her boyfriend were attempting to rescue the children.
Two of the children were found by firefighters in the living room under a pile of burned debris, and three were found in the kitchen area.
Deontae Davis Jr., 9; 8-year-old twins Neveah Dunigan and Heaven Dunigan; Jabari Johnson, 4; and Loy’el Dunigan, 2, died on their mother’s birthday. Four died on scene, and one died at a local hospital.
Charging documents from Gomric’s office stated that the children had been left without adult supervision, contributing to their deaths.
According to a news release from Gomric’s office at the time, the criminal complaint against Dunigan was filed by the bureau chief of the Children’s Justice Division of the state’s attorney’s office.
This story was originally published July 25, 2025 at 11:39 AM.
