Mother charged in death of her children after West Chester apartment fire

Authorities have said no adult was in the apartment when the flames broke out.
4-year-old Bryson Brooks and 2-year-old Alaiya Encarnacion(Provided)
Published: Mar. 29, 2023 at 3:45 PM EDT

WEST CHESTER, Ohio (WXIX) - A Butler County grand jury on Wednesday indicted a woman whose two children died after an apartment fire last September.

Ashley Rhiles, who pleaded not guilty, faces two counts of involuntary manslaughter and four counts of child endangerment.

The Butler County Prosecutor confirms Rhiles is the mother of 2-year-old Alaiya Encarnacion and 4-year-old Bryson Brooks, who died, as well as a 6-year-old and a 9-month-old who survived.

The blaze began in an apartment unit on Aster Park Drive. A neighbor said it sounded like a bomb exploding.

There was no adult in the apartment when flames broke out inside the apartment bedroom, township officials have said.

A neighbor previously told us Rhiles was “just outside.” Prosecutors told us Wednesday the mother was out shopping when the fire started.

Firefighters rescued the children, but they suffered severe smoke inhalation. The kids were in a different room from where the fire started, authorities said.

Alaiya and Bryson died three days after the fire at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.

“Paramedics and firefighters did everything they could do to give these children a fighting chance,” West Chester Fire Chief Rick Prinz said at the time.

[Lakota elementary student honored after helping family escape fatal West Chester fire]

The State Fire Marshal’s Office says it is still investigating the cause of the fire.

Dadrickrica Ellison, the children’s grandfather, previously described it as “a freak accident” that “just happened too fast.”

“It’s one of those freak accident things, like, it just happened too fast,” Ellison said last September. “It just happened too fast.”

He said of his daughter: “She just moved back to the city, establishing her life, getting her life back on track... This was out of nowhere.”

A judge set Rhiles’ bond at $750,000 and ordered her to stay away from her other juvenile children. If does post bail, the judge said she must wear an electronic monitoring device.

See a spelling or grammar error in our story? Please include the title when you click here to report it.

Copyright 2022 WXIX. All rights reserved.