The father of two young girls who perished with their pets in a pre-Christmas Murrieta residential fire is slated to make his initial court appearance Tuesday.
Adam Joseph Keenan, 43, and Stacey Jo Hales, 46, both of Murrieta, are accused of causing the blaze that claimed the lives of Emma Keenan, 12, and Abby Keenan, 11, in December.
Adam Keenan was charged earlier this month with three counts of child cruelty resulting in great bodily injury or death and one count of being under the influence of controlled substances. He was formally taken into custody Thursday during a traffic stop in Lake Elsinore.
The defendant is being held in lieu of $160,000 bail at the Byrd Detention Center and is scheduled to appear Tuesday afternoon at the Southwest Justice Center in Murrieta.
His wife, Hales, is charged with two counts of arson resulting in great bodily injury or death, one count of arson to an inhabited structure resulting in great bodily injury or death, three counts of child cruelty, one count of animal abuse and one count of being under the influence of controlled substances, with a sentence-enhancing allegation of victimizing multiple people in an act of arson.
Hales is free on a $160,000 bond and is due for arraignment on April 14.
“Investigators determined there was sufficient evidence to establish probable cause that Hales and Keenan were criminally responsible for the fire and resulting deaths of the juveniles and animals,” according to a Murrieta Police Department statement released last week.
The blaze erupted shortly before 5 a.m. on Dec. 20 in the couple’s mobile home in the 41000 block of Knight Drive, near Adams Avenue.
“Upon arrival, first responders found the mobile home, carport, three vehicles, two outbuildings and a large pine tree fully engulfed in flames,” according to the police department.
Murrieta Fire & Rescue personnel worked for nearly an hour to knock down the blaze, and during a post-containment search of the residence, they discovered the two sisters and “multiple household pets” dead, police said.
The parents escaped with survivable injuries, along with their other daughter, Ashley Keenan. Hales’ injuries inflicted damage to her eyesight, according to published reports.
Authorities did not identify the specific origin of the fire, though the criminal complaint suggested both parents were strung out on drugs at the time.
Neither defendant has documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County.