The home at Avondale and Eastern Avenue in Grand Rapids was already engulfed by the time the first call came into 911.
See Ross Jones' full investigation in the video below
“I hear some people and some kids screaming,” said one neighbor who called police. “And some people are trying to help them get out...please hurry.”
The screams, firefighters later learned, belonged to three little girls; sisters who were trapped inside.
Within hours, investigators concluded that the fire was not an accident. It had been set by the girls’ mother, Roconda Singleton, they said, who removed all the smoke detectors and poured lighter fluid throughout the home.
“This just should not be anything that anyone’s ever contemplated in the world,” said Grand Rapids Police Chief Eric Winstrom days after the blaze. “That my mom is going to start the house on fire while I’m asleep in a bed upstairs.”
See bodycam video from the fire below
But as hard as it was to comprehend, this tragedy did not come out of nowhere.
A 7 News Detroit investigation reveals that it followed a paper trail of warnings that was months long, spanning Children’s Protective Services, the state’s mental health system and other local agencies, warning that a day like this was possible—maybe even inevitable.
“Their legal responsibility is to make sure these children are safe,” said Frank Vandervort, a law professor at the University of Michigan. “And that’s what they don’t do.”
Spiraling out of control
Shantasia King will always love her mother, regardless of what she is accused of today.
King is her oldest daughter, living in Ann Arbor and studying at the University of Michigan.
“She was my rock,” King said of her mom. “She was the reason that I am who I am today.”
But in the months leading up to the fire, she says her mother’s mental decline was hard to miss as hallucinations and paranoia began to take over her life.
RELATED: Detroit boy told CPS his mom wanted 'to kill him' months before prosecutors say she did
Frequently, Singleton would call 911 about disputes with her neighbors that her family believes were not real.
“There were so many times where the police were called,” Shantasia said. “There was a family that already lived there for 12 years and that family had so many confrontations with my mother that they moved out.”
911 recordings reviewed by 7 News Detroit show Singleton repeatedly claimed that her neighbors were walking through her yard, leaving bricks in her driveway or waving guns and threatening her.
Sometimes, police were called on Singleton by neighbors who said she had threatened them with violence.
By August of 2024, Singleton was in the throes of a mental health crisis when, according to police records, she took her daughters to a Grand Rapids cell phone store and began to disrobe.
A store employee called 911.
“I have a woman, she took all her clothes off in the parking lot, walked inside the store, knocking everything down,” the employee told the 911 operator.
Singleton would later say, according to Children’s Protective Services, that she went to the store to buy a new phone because she believed hers was “bugged by the feds.”
Her daughter said Singleton was suffering from serious delusions.
RELATED: Mom, boyfriend accused of killing Flint toddler 2 days after CPS sent him home
“She had concerns that people were federal agents and people were watching her,” Shantasia recalled. “Even saying that...her cat had been replaced with AI.”
Singleton would be admitted involuntarily to Pine Rest Hospital in Grand Rapids, given an order for up to 60 days of inpatient treatment.
Doctors said she was “religiously preoccupied, paranoid and grandiose,” that she had “no insight into her illness” and “declined medications.”
With her mom in the hospital, Singleton’s oldest daughter Shantasia would go to court, seeking temporary guardianship of her younger sisters.
At the same time, Children’s Protective Services would open a case.
Hallucinations and fear
CPS records show that the agency interviewed Singleton’s children, other relatives and Singleton herself.
A full week after her breakdown, she was still hallucinating, according to internal reports, telling a case worker that her cat or children might be spying on her.
RELATED: Years before Na'Ziyah Harris murder case, CPS warned repeatedly about alleged killer
Vandervort, the law professor and child welfare advocate, reviewed CPS’s investigation into Singleton for 7 News Detroit, saying that her mental health struggles made the case extremely complicated.
“Anyone who’s seen someone who’s had this kind of psychotic break understands that you just don’t recover that quickly,” Vandervort said.
But the following week, Pine Rest Hospital would discharge Singleton from their care after barely two weeks of treatment.
“It was a moment of shock,” said her daughter Shantasia, who learned of her mother’s discharge from a phone call.
But within a day of Singleton’s discharge, there were serious signs that she was still very ill.
24 hours after Singleton was released, her niece would call 911, telling the operator that her aunt was at her door and threatening harm.
“She just got out of the crazy home. She keeps trying to kill my mom,” her niece said. “She’s at our house right now, and she keeps coming to our door, banging on our door.”
Watch below: 911 calls from Singleton's niece and sister a day after she was released
Earlier that day, according to court records, Singleton’s sister tried to take out a personal protection order (PPO) against her, saying she had “come to my house to fight” and that “it’s at the point somebody will get hurt...I need help. She’s crazy and I’m scared of crazy.”
A judge would later decline the request.
Vandervort, the University of Michigan professor, says the call to police and PPO being sought are evidence that Singleton was still deeply troubled following her discharge.
“The very next day after she’s out of the hospital,” Vandervort said, “the police are being called on her because she’s threatening to kill people.”
But there is no record in the CPS investigation that the agency was aware of any of it. In fact, just a week later, a CPS caseworker wrote that they were planning to close the case.
“When she’s still in the throes of serious mental health problems, the agency doesn’t even know that,” Vandervort said. “They rushed to close this case. There’s no reason they need to do that.”
The next month, at a hearing to dissolve the temporary guardianship for Singleton’s youngest daughters, an employee with the Department of Health and Human Services spoke briefly about Singleton’s mental health problems, but told a judge that everything had been handled.
“I did reach out to the CPS worker who didn’t have any concerns regarding the family,” the employee said. “Not to minimize it, but there was a mental health episode that Ms. Roconda had suffered from. But she sought treatment, everything was taken care of.”
‘A Band-Aid on a terrible wound’
Nearly three months to the day after Singleton’s daughters were returned to her, she would set fire to her home, according to police, with three of her daughters still inside.
Firefighters were able to rescue two of Singleton’s daughters, but the injuries to 12-year-old Shamiya were too severe.
She would die at the hospital with her older sister Shantasia at her bedside.
“I’m very grateful that I had the opportunity to just speak life and love over my little sister,” she recalled, “and just let her know that she’s beautiful and we love her.”
After Shamiya’s death, CPS would file a petition to terminate Singleton’s parental rights, saying she told police: “I did it,” and that she wanted “to die with her three daughters so they could be free.”
Singleton told CPS that “death came over her” and she panicked, records show, feeling that “someone was going to get her.”
CPS reports that Singleton admitted to setting the upstairs bathroom and living room on fire with lighter fluid, and said she pulled one of her daughters back into the home who tried to escape.
The agency reports that Singleton stopped taking her medications a week before CPS closed out their investigation and withdrew from outpatient treatment the following month.
“Clearly, she needed more than what she got,” Vandervort said, “and this tragedy came about as a result of that."
Employees working within Children’s Protective Services and the broader mental health system are often pressured to close cases or discharge patients quickly, according to Vandervort, without performing their due diligence.
“These public systems, they’re underfunded, they’re overwhelmed,” Vandervort said. “They’re essentially putting a band-aid on a terrible wound.”
Citing patient privacy laws, a spokesman for Pine Rest Hospital said he could not comment on this case directly, but said patient safety is a top priority.
"At Pine Rest, we are privileged to care for thousands of individuals facing mental health challenges each year," said communications manager Matthew Hiskes.
"The health, safety, and well-being of those we serve are at the heart of everything we do. Our compassionate, highly trained staff are dedicated to providing care in a safe and supportive healing environment."
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services—which oversees CPS—also did not speak to Singleton's case directly.
In a statement, spokeswoman Erin Stover said, in part: "Our role in the child welfare system is one part of a complex process that involves coordination with families, mental health providers, schools, mandated reporters, law enforcement and judges, all of whom play a part in keeping kids safe and determining the best possible outcomes for children and families."
"During the investigative process, Children’s Protective Services (CPS) caseworkers are responsible for verifying the safety and well-being of children and determining if evidence exists to confirm child abuse or neglect by a person responsible. When a preponderance of evidence is not confirmed, CPS caseworkers connect families to prevention resources and closes the case. If a family member on a CPS investigation is experiencing a mental health crisis and the family is not already engaged with a mental health practitioner, the CPS caseworker refers the family to a mental health provider, who determines the need for services and support."
Today, Singleton is charged with the murder of her daughter Shamiya, arson and three counts of child abuse in the second degree. A judge ordered her to undergo a competency exam in February.
Attorneys for Singleton, who has pleaded not guilty to the charges, did not respond to an e-mail seeking comment.
For Shantasia King, she hopes to one day wake up from this terrible dream.
She has buried one sister, is consoling three others and, while her mother faces the prospect of life in prison, wonders if it all could have been prevented if CPS had taken more time.
“We’re not just case numbers. We’re not just your shift. We’re not just your salary,” King said.
“This is my family.”
Contact 7 Investigator Ross Jones at ross.jones@wxyz.com or at (248) 827-9466.