Three girls and their grandfather were found dead after a massive suburban house fire this week. Their uncles spoke exclusively with ABC7, saying the oldest sister had just celebrated her 16th birthday the day before.
Sunday, March 29, 2026 3:21AMCrete fire crews responded just before 1 a.m. Wednesday to a reported fire in the 100-block of Chalet court.ABC7 Chicago is now streaming 24/7. Click here to watch It was less than an hour after ending her 16th birthday when Kassidy James would be killed in a fire with her two little sisters and her grandfather as the flames tore through their Crete home.
The family went from celebrating a milestone in a girl's life one day to mourning several lives lost the very next. "They were full of life, full of joy, celebrating with their younger cousins, you know, my children," Charles James said. "It was really devastating when I broke the news to my two children. So, everybody's been taking it pretty hard." Charles and Edward James are the paternal uncles of 16-year-old Kassidy, 11-year-old Mary, and 7-year-old Ivory James. They say the three sisters were likely asleep when the fire broke out early Wednesday morning just before one at their home in Crete. "It appeared to me that they never had a chance because all of them were found in bedrooms," Charles James said.Indiana woman charged with murder after 3 found dead in Will County home waives extradition "Arrived on scene to see the house up in flames. They were carrying the bodies out by that time," Edward James said. "That was the gut check moment, as they call it, where you knew it was real." The flames also claimed the life of their grandfather, 71-year-old Walter Palmer, who began raising the girls when their mother, who was his daughter, died. "We do know it was smoke inhalation, so I mean - you don't know what their last moments were like," Edward James said. "You hope that it was not painful, but yes, that's the hard part to process.""The Heavens make no mistakes, but it's a tragic loss for us all, and we're thankful for the time that we had," Edward James said.The cause of the fire remains under investigation by the Illinois State Fire Marshal's Office. The Will County Coroner's Office and Crete police are also investigating. Crete-Monee School District 201-U said in a social media post that two students from Monee Elementary and one Crete-Monee High School student were killed in the fire. The school district said it is increasing support at its schools. "This is a devastating time for our school community. Out of respect for the family's privacy and because circumstances are still being confirmed, we cannot share additional details at this time. We are all grieving together, and we will do everything we can to support our students, staff, and families in the days ahead," the district said.
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