One Year After Deadly Fridley Car Fire, Family Remembers Ty'rah White's Energy
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) - Thursday marks one year since two sisters were caught in a car fire in a Fridley Walmart parking lot.
Ty'rah White, who was six years old, died a day later. Her nine-year-old sister Taraji survived, but was badly burned. Their mother was inside the store when the fire started.
"When she was gone, I felt like a piece of something in my head was missing, like her sound, her energy, her dancing," said Essie McKenzie, the girls' mother.
The girls were sleeping that day, and McKenzie let them stay in the car as she quickly ran inside the store.
The van next to theirs belonged to Roberto Hipolito. His van caught on fire first. Investigators believe it was started by a cook stove he had inside his vehicle.
"It's hard to hate someone you don't know," said McKenzie. She said she spent the last year focusing only on her family.
Taraji was in the hospital for two months after the fire, connected to breathing tubes and recovering from extreme burns. Her hospital stay kept her from being able to attend her own sister's funeral.
"I have some brave kids. These girls are so brave. So powerful and brave. I can just look at her and wow, look at her," said McKenzie. "She's living her life, she's living it for herself and her sister."
On this one-year mark, Taraji spent the day at Hillside Cemetery, where Ty'rah is buried, to grieve with her family and to remember this is not goodbye.
"My dream is to see Ty'rah again," she said.
Roberto Hipolito pleaded guilty to accidentally starting the fire from a cookstove he was storing in his car. He is expected to be sentenced next week.