2 sisters killed in Arnold fire: 'Everybody on the block loved them'

Kenyatta Milisits struggled to find the words to describe the situation that claimed the lives of two of her best friends, and injured a third, in a fire Wednesday night in Arnold.

“Why’d something bad have to happen to good people?” she asked Thursday on the porch steps of 1908 Kenneth Ave.

The Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office identified one of the victims as Shakeeta Murphy, 39. The medical examiner’s office said she was taken to the Allegheny Valley Hospital emergency room in Harrison and died there at 8:58 p.m. Wednesday.

On Friday afternoon, the Medical Examiner’s Office identified the second victim from the fire as Latecia Murphy, 38, and Shakeeta’s sister. Latecia died at 2:07 p.m. Thursday at UPMC Mercy Hospital, according to the Medical Examiner’s Office.

Their mother, Lori Muldrow, was taken to the hospital with undetermined injuries.

“We don’t have answers,” said longtime family friend Robin Fullard of Arnold. “We don’t know anything right now. The family is in disbelief and shock about what happened.”

Milisits and Fullard said they knew the family for almost all of their lives. They said a family member informed them of the sisters’ deaths.

“Everybody on the block loved them,” Fullard said.

Muldrow was very successful at her job, Fullard said, took pride in her home and was an excellent mother. She called Muldrow a mother figure to children outside of her own.

“She is a phenomenal mom, and she raised phenomenal girls, and she did it all by herself,” Fullard said.

“She was the best person. She was everybody’s mom. She helped my children; my kids were raised in this house.”

Latecia Murphy was a great friend, the women said, and was always there for others.

“She would give you the shirt off her back,” Fullard said. “You could call at any time in the night, and she’d answer. She didn’t judge you.”

Shakeeta Murphy was “bright, brilliant and smart,” Fullard said.

“She was so loving,” Milisits said.

The fire is under investigation.

Five adults were in the house at the time, and a few of them were taken either by ambulance or medical helicopter from the scene, according to authorities. Someone jumped out of a third-story window to escape the flames.

The home is a complete loss, according to authorities.

“It’s an unfortunate situation,” Fullard said. “Even if I didn’t know them, I witnessed what happened, and nobody deserves to go through that.”

Two other people who witnessed the fire Wednesday were friends Isabel Morrison and Amiyah Johnson, both 11 and of Arnold.

Isabel said they were playing outside when they saw smoke and heard screams. They ran to nearby adults to get them to call 911, Isabel said.

Isabel said she saw a woman inside the house push an air-conditioning unit out of the window and jump out.

“She jumped right before the police and firefighters could come,” Isabel said.

Isabel, her mom, Kayla Boehm, and other neighbors tried to get a ladder over to the window, but it was too late.

“The firefighters got here really fast,” Boehm said. “They secured the block off, and the area, real fast and kept it contained. They did an amazing job getting everyone out and doing what they could.”

The fire rocked the Arnold community, neighbors said.

“It’s definitely, for them, probably pretty traumatizing to witness,” said Amiyah’s mother, Montreal Budd of Arnold.

Budd was proud of how the children were able to immediately alert the adults when they saw something was wrong.

“All the kids on this block are good kids, and smart kids,” Budd said. “I’m not surprised they knew what to do.”