Apartment fire that killed 10 still unsolved 10 years later

View Larger View Larger Crime & Safety Headlines More Crime&Safety Crime Stoppers More Crimestoppers Crime Databases More Databases Continuing stories More Ongoing Stories Local Stories from ThisWeek More Articles By Encarnacion Pyle The Columbus Dispatch Friday September 12, 2014 6:33 AM

Benito Lucio worries that memories of the 10 people killed in a Prairie Township fire a decade ago are as abandoned as the memorial where their apartment building once stood.

To see the memorial today with weeds, its obvious people have forgotten, Lucio said last week.

Gone are the candles and flower-draped white crosses that honored the 10 people, including three young children, who lost their lives on Sept. 12, 2004.

One of three markers lies broken among tall weeds and uncut grass. A boulder surrounded by a semicircle of pavers is dwarfed by the boarded-up remains of the former Lincoln Park West apartments.

So many lives gone, just like that, Lucio said as he stood in front of the memorial. I cant help but wonder what would have become of those three little children if things had been different."

The fire was ruled arson, but the crime has not been solved a fact that Lucio finds disheartening.

The retired migrant-worker monitor for the state said he will talk about the fire today on his local Spanish-language radio show. He wants to encourage anyone with information to come forward.

People who do bad things are supposed to get punished, he said. We cant rest until that happens in this terrible tragedy.

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Apartment fire that killed 10 still unsolved 10 years later