4-Year-Old Girl, Mother Stabbed Before Levittown Apartment Fire
By Elizabeth Hur and Ileana Diaz
LEVITTOWN, Pa., (CBS) – A child and her mother were found stabbed inside a suspicious apartment fire in Bucks County Monday afternoon.
The fire was reported at about 3:30 p.m. at the Avalon Court Apartments in the 3500 block of Bristol Oxford Valley Road in Levittown. Crews placed the fire under control at about 3:50 p.m.
The Bucks County District Attorney identified the victims as 22-year-old Ebony Talley and her four-year-old daughter, R'Mani Rankins. The family says the mother was also seven months pregnant.
Marquis Johnson, a friend of the victim, said, "It's very, very sad. She is a sweet person."
Dani Hodges, the victim's cousin added, "She was a good person. She took care of her daughter and loved her sister and brothers. She was a good person."
Authorities say they found Talley dead at the scene with multiple stab wounds. The four-year-old girl was taken to St. Mary's Medical Center with a single stab wound and burns, but she later died from her injuries.
Hodges explained, "She was burned. Seventy percent of her body was burned. Why kill an innocent baby? Why? Why?"
Those who knew the victims well say they cannot imagine why anyone would want the young mother and her daughter dead.
For now, authorities are not releasing too much information other than to confirm they are trying to identify the killer and motive.
District Attorney David Heckler told Eyewitness News the suspicious fire could be incidental or intentional and asks anyone with information to call Bristol Police.
The American Red Cross responded to help six people temporarily displaced.
Police do not have a suspect or a motive at this time.
