A 4-year-old girl, who police claim was set on fire by her father, has died from her injuries.
Nariyah Beller died on Monday after the fire which killed her 33-year-old mother and left her 9-year-old brother fighting for his life, the Chicago Tribune reports.
Police claim Nathaniel Beller, 29, father of the two children who also died in the blaze, poured flammable liquid on them and their mother, Taniya Johnson, before setting them alight at a Chicago home on Saturday.
Johnson was also stabbed in the incident, according to reports.
Nariyah suffered burns over her entire body while her brother is still critical in Stroger Hospital after sustaining burns over 35 per cent of his body in the horrific attack.
An empty gas can was also found behind the brick two-flat which belonged to the accused’s mother Willie, who spells her surname Beler
Beler, 52, said the family had been visiting her Lawndale home that evening.
She went to bed after dinner and first learned of the fire at 4am when she awoke to see her son engulfed in flames, running through her home.
She asked for prayers for her grandchildren in a news conference outside the property on West 21st Place.
The newspaper reported that Beller had been repeatedly accused of domestic abuse against Johnson and the two children.
In 2007 he reportedly pleaded guilty to domestic battery and had an order of protection taken out against him.
He was also accused of abusing his children and had been banned from visiting them without the supervision of a social worker, MyFoxChicago.com reports.
The pair had been engaged for about two years, according to Beller’s mother, 52.
Contrary to police reports, she denied that her son had started the blaze – accusing Johnson instead.
Fire deaths: Willie Beler, 52, claims her son Nathaniel wasn’t behind the blaze which killed him, his fiance and their 4-year-old daughter. Police say Beler’s son purposefully started the blaze in Lawndale, Chicago
‘My son came running through — he was on fire, and he said that ‘she set me on fire,” Beler told news crews outside her home on Monday morning.
‘My grandson was running behind him and the flames that was flying off him was hitting my grandson.’
Her son had moved back into her home two months before and was taking medication for bipolar disorder, she told journalists.
