Four pounds of methamphetamine burned in a Gwinnett house fire that killed three young children Thursday afternoon, said police, who continue to search for the alleged arsonist.
Police fear Ivan Gonzalez, 26, may flee the state or try to cross into Mexico.
Gonzalez, who lived at the house in unincorporated Lilburn, sustained facial burns in the blaze, initiated by chemicals used in the meth-making process, police said. Gonzalez, not the children's father, faces three counts of murder for the deaths of 1-1/2-year-old Stacy Brito, Ivan Guevara, 3, and his 4-year-old brother, Isaac Guevara.
The children's mother, Neibi Yamel Brito, was charged with trafficking in methamphetamine, police said, with additional charges possible.
Investigators located $192,155 within the walls of the home in the 1100 block of Spring Mill Drive. They also discovered 4,555 grams of liquid methamphetamine and about one pound of "finished" meth.
One week before the fire, police arrested Gonzalez for producing false documents at the scene of another grisly crime in which two boys were killed. Gonzalez was questioned during the arrest in Suwanee of Antonio Cardenas-Rico, who was accused in the stabbing deaths of his girlfriend's two young sons. Police later dropped murder charges against Cardenas-Rico, though he remains in jail on a felony drug charge. Police say the boys' father stabbed them to death and tried to blame it on Cardenas-Rico.
"Gonzalez was the person he was arrested with," Gwinnett Police Cpl. Jake Smith said. But, he added, "we don't have any ties with that incident."
Gonzalez was released, re-emerging as a suspect in the meth fire Friday morning.
The children were upstairs when the fire broke out in a ground-floor hallway, officials said.
Some Good Samaritans helped rescue the children from the burning home but were not able to save their lives. Ivan, the 3-year-old, died Thursday, and his siblings passed away later Thursday night at Grady Memorial Hospital from severe burns and smoke inhalation.
Firefighters arrived to the burning home to find the suspect trying to dampen the fire with a garden hose.
"He was claiming the victims were family members of his, and he appeared to be suffering from burns," Smith said. "He was not challenged as he left the scene to follow the ambulance."
It is unclear if Gonzalez actually followed the ambulance to check on the children, Smith said. Police have checked with area hospitals and are asking the public to notify them with any information on Gonzalez' whereabouts.
Gonzalez is described as a 5′7, 190-pound Hispanic male with a tattoo of Jesus Christ on his leg. He was last seen driving a late-model gray or silver Honda Civic or Accord and may also be traveling in a green 2004-05 model Chevrolet Trailblazer. Gonzalez sometimes uses an alias: John McGowan Torres.
Gwinnett Fire Capt. Tommy Rutledge said the tragedy illustrates how dangerous the chemicals used in meth production can be.
"[They] are extremely flammable, they're highly volatile," he said. "It creates a dangerous situation not only for occupants inside the home, but anyone nearby."
Neighbor Barbara Brown said the house had been vacant for a long time.
"I don't know if it was in foreclosure or what, but these people hadn't lived here very long," she said.
Brown said she was shocked that "people so messed up live right here next to you. What grieves me is the children. They're innocent, they couldn't help it."
Another neighbor, June Wilson, who has lived on the street since the late 1960s, said "it's always been a very quiet and safe neighborhood."
Two of the children already had been pulled from the home by the time rescue crews arrived, Rutledge said. A third child was brought out by one of three people who stopped to help.
A man driving a work truck on Five Forks Trickum stopped to help after seeing people trying to exit the home on a roof landing, Rutledge said. The man used his ladder to assist with the rescue before firefighters arrived. Other neighbors, including two older teenagers, also rushed to the home to help the family escape.
Thursday's tragedy comes as Georgia authorities battle a surge in the manufacture and sale of methamphetamine.
According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, the amount of meth seized in Georgia has soared from 51 kilograms in 2008 to 279 kilograms in 2010, a whopping 447 percent increase. So far this year, authorities have confiscated 575 kilos.
The number of methamphetamine lab incidents reported in Georgia over the past three years climbed from 167 to 257, a 54 percent increase. Meth lab incidents are defined as the discovery of any type or size of meth lab or area where meth-making materials are dumped.
-- Staff writers Larry Hartstein, Alexis Stevens and Andria Simmons contributed to this article.
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