A man in a black tee carrying a black bag for his aunt walked north on Essex past a half-burned-out building with dozens of teddy bears, Disney stuffed animals and Mylar balloons out front.
Three pairs of butterfly wings, three tiaras and three magic wands, each with pink streamers attached to stars at the top, adorned an iron fence leading to the courtyard.
“I’m still mad about these kids, man,” said Romero Moore, the 51-year-old maintenance worker passing by. “It don’t make sense.”
Over $10, he said.
“A lot of people come, look. They shake their heads ’cause it’s sad,” he said. “When you drive down the block you know what happened. Lives we can’t get back.”
Three girls died in a fire here, at 81st and Essex, on Aug. 23. Set by a man angry over a failed $10 deal for sex
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, according to prosecutors. A neighbor also died.The fence is lined with items the girls may have played with had they survived. Two girls, 4-year-old Madison Watson and 7-year-old Shaniya Staples, burned inside this building. A third sister, 3-month-old Melanie Watson, died when her father jumped from a third-floor window with her in his arms, an attempt to save her life.
Michael Watson survived the fall. His daughter Melanie did not.
The balloons have lost their air and dangle on the iron. Most of the flowers have dried out. A temporary chain-link construction fence separates the burned-out portion of the three-story blackened yellow-brick courtyard building from the habitable portion.
Glass candles melted down and tipped in the wind and shattered over tea light wax that had melted into the sidewalk.
Ink messages written to the four dead faded in the rain, except one, dated Aug. 29, saved apparently because it folded over when tape holding the top of the paper to the fence came loose.
“I know you guys are so overcome with emotion because of some heartless monster who took your sweet children away and I also feel deeply saddened by the passing of the other adult that has passed away. We are praying for you guys and hope that justice is served,” the letter read.
It was signed by three people: A Concerned Parent, Alexandria McChristen, and Gwendolyn Rowan. A figurine of a black woman in angel’s wings and wearing an angel’s gown — a figurine that might normally sit atop a Christmas tree — sat on the ground nearby.
“It just hurts my heart when children are involved in this senseless horrific crime taking innocent people’s lives. But God will heal your heart and soul. Your kids are sweet and beautiful angels now,” they wrote.
Pink purses, car seats and folded poster boards sat among the stuffed animals.
“Looking down on you they are at peace now. But they wouldn’t want you to cry. Just remember all the love they brought you and the smiles on their face when they saw you. We will never forget them but they will always live in your heart.”