Distraught Mother of Kaylee Alvarez Denies Neglect, Says Deadly Fire Was Deliberately Set

Kaylee Alvarez

On Thursday night we told you about the tragic fire in Conch Shell Bay area that claimed the life of two year old Kaylee Alvarez.  Around midday yesterday, Alvarez and two other young children were inside the wooden home near the Conch Shell Bay market when fire started. The two children were rescued; however, Alvarez wasn’t as fortunate. After the fire was put out, her body was discovered in the bathroom. It appeared that the baby died from smoke inhalation because only superficial burns were visible on her body at the time. So, could Kaylee have been rescued? Were the children inside the home alone? In our story last night, we were not able to speak with the mother Phyllis Rhaburn. Today, she called us because she said she wanted to set the record straight with the public. She said that there have been many allegations that she wasn’t at home with her children. She categorically denied those speculations. She said she was at home and she is convinced that the fire was intentionally set by someone. Here’s that interview:

Phyllis Rhaburn

Phyllis Rhaburn, Mother

“I wah the public fi know and who know me and dah man weh up deh know me, nobody cyaa judge me down yah. Nobody know the pain weh I di feel. I dah wah mother ah seven. I wah unu watch me good; a struggling mother ah seven. Anybody who wah talk could talk. I struggle fi my seven kids. How could I neva deh home with my kids, when my sista the cook food? All ah we done eat and my whole family the socialize. As my family gone and I tell them I, how I nuh wah deh home when I di get my kids ready for school. Four deh dah Primary School and I deh home with the three youngest one. The baby the sleep and I the bathe the next two inna the bathroom, just done clean out the house and they bed well spread and everything. Everybody done eat and nobody neglected.”

Andrea Polanco

“So, you are saying, definitively that you were at home, in the house, with your child- with your children?”

Phyllis Rhaburn

“With my child, with my whole family. If you could ah spin the camera, this main young lady yah.”

Andrea Polanco

“So, it wasn’t a case of neglect; with only the three kids in the house?”

Phyllis Rhaburn

“Could ah neva miss. I love my pickney deh.”

Andrea Polanco

“What do you know about the cause of the fire?”

Phyllis Rhaburn

“Ma’am, all I could say and only God could tek it outta mi heart, somebody did that to me and neve meant fi ketch my baby. But because ah deh stupid mentality they caused an angel life; two years old.”

Andrea Polanco

“Why do you think someone wanted to set your house on fire?”

Phyllis Rhaburn

“Miss, this dah wah whole long set up. Whosoever do it. Whosoever deh pay fi do it.”

Andrea Polanco

“Have there been threats before?”

Phyllis Rhaburn

“We had threats towards the family, but neva know it wah come this serious. Right through the back deh do it. They watch me and mi family the enjoy wiself. As mi family deh decide fi gone, me one left inna the house and mi niece deh come inna the yaad and ah hail mi niece; just done bathe mi pickney deh and I walk dah the door and hail mi niece fi ker mi pickney deh dah the door and by the time I come back fi sit down inna my sofa, I ask my niece, “ yuh smell sponge the bun?” Just walk outta the bathroom yuh know, outta mi room gone dah the door, nuh even five minutes and when I run back, cause I look outside nothing and when I run inna my house the middle ah the bottom bunk ah my baby deh bed had fire. When my four year old weh I done have on the unders fi school deh outside and Kaylee was jumping on the bed and I say ‘Kaylee get down off the bed because the baby just gone sleep.”

Andrea Polanco

“So, the fire started in the bedroom, you say?”

Phyllis Rhaburn

“In my kids’ bedroom on the bottom part of the bunk that I just bought for them.”

Andrea Polanco

“The kids were not playing with anything in there?”

Phyllis Rhaburn

“Nothing, miss. My house clean. I nuh have no lighter, no match. My sister cook and they ker everything. I send my niece fi ah light and she tell me ih nuh have none. Suh how could I di neglect my pickney deh when I deh in deh.”

Andrea Polanco

“So, do you know, how did your baby get into that bathroom when that fire started?”

Phyllis Rhaburn

“Miss, the quickness ah weh ih happen but I think mi baby si the person who do it.”

Andrea Polanco

“So, you think she ran in there because she saw the fire and did she get scared?”

Phyllis Rhaburn

“Have to be and fi seh. I neva know weh fi say. I the holla Kaylee, Kaylee, Kaylee. No Kaylee ansa. I could ah neva think my baby deh inna dah bathroom, the quickness, miss.”