Investigation Continues After 2 Young Girls Die In House Fire: 'They Were Very, Very Loved By Everyone'

LIBERTY TOWNSHIP, Minn. (WCCO) -- Investigators are still looking into a fire that took the lives of two little girls.

On Thursday morning, two days before Christmas, a house was charred and blackened in Liberty Township, 15 miles from Bemidji. Two little girls were trapped inside.

"They were very close, they're inseparable," said Kayla Stellick, their aunt. "AceLynn was more outgoing than RaeLynn, she was, you know, the shy one."

Six-year-old AceLynn and 5-year-old RaeLynn were spending the night at their grandmother's house when a fire broke out. The family doesn't know how it started.

"The girls were with their grandma while Amber (their mother) was finishing up her Christmas wrapping getting everything ready for them," said Megan Mckenna, their aunt.

The Beltrami County Sheriff's Office says by the time crews got to the house fire, the second floor was already fully engulfed in flames.

A neighbor called the girl's mother, Amber.

"She was escorted onto the scene," said McKenna. "I waited for her and felt like forever. I saw her walking down the road, crying, and we didn't really say much. We just hugged each other."

The girls were unaccounted for for several hours until crews found them. The family says the girls' grandmother, who was taken to the hospital, blames herself.

"She did everything she could to try to get them out – she just wasn't able to," said Stellick.

The aunts of the two girls tell us the girls loved gymnastics.

"AceLynn loves school,she just started kindergarten this year," said Stellick.

They were the babies of the family. Leaving behind three older brothers and so many other loved ones that are missing them this Christmas.

"They were both really sweet girls. They were very, very loved by everyone," said Stellick.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.