FIRE CASE CLOSED; FRIENDS MOURNING

FRUITLAND, Mo. -- Trapped with her four children in a burning, smoke-filled bedroom of their small upstairs apartment, Robin Muench had only seconds to act.

She threw her 4-year-old son, Joshua, out the second-story window, a decision that saved his life.

But by then it was too late for the young mother and her other children: Angela, 5, Phillip, 2, and Nicholas, 1. The fire's toxic fumes killed them almost instantly, said fire investigator Butch Amann with the state fire marshal's office. The fire and its suffocating black smoke spread rapidly, fanned by the fresh air coming in the window.

"By the time she turned and grabbed one of the other children, the intensity of the fire had probably grown to the point -- she probably took one more breath and it was over," Amann said Tuesday after concluding his investigation of Monday's blaze at the Fruitland home.

The bodies of Robin Muench, 24, Angela and Phillip were found lying together near the window. Nicholas was still in his bed.

Husband and father Matthew Muench, 25, was at work when the fire broke out. He received a call and returned home to find firefighters battling the blaze.

The fire, the worst in Cape Girardeau County in a decade, was reported at 9:05 a.m. by a relative of the Muench family who was living downstairs in the small, white house at 6080 U.S. 61 in Fruitland. It took firefighters from three volunteer departments about an hour to extinguish the blaze.

Joshua was released from Southeast Missouri Hospital on Tuesday and reunited with his father.

Friends and neighbors said they were devastated by the tragedy but thankful the 4-year-old boy survived.

A saddened Rose Hecht lives in a brick home next to the Muench residence. She said she saw the boy's face black from the soot and his hair scorched after his rescue. He was crying.

"He said his back hurt," she said. "He told the ambulance driver his head hurt, too."

The fire started in a mattress, which investigators found on the floor blocking the bedroom door. Amann believes the mother dragged the mattress off the bed and tried unsuccessfully to put the fire out. "We are not sure if it was caused by a dropped cigarette or the kids were playing with matches," Amann said.

The downstairs apartment had smoke alarms. Amann said it's unclear if there were any smoke alarms upstairs. None have been found in the charred remains.

Cape Girardeau County sheriff's deputies David Craig and Todd Stevens arrived at the fire minutes after the 911 call was made and saw flames shooting out the second-story windows. Craig said he and Stevens went up the outside wooden steps and kicked in the apartment door, which was locked.

"At that point, the smoke was billowing out pretty hard. You couldn't see anything. The smoke was so thick and black," he said.

Armed with a flashlight, Craig and Stevens, who both have worked as firefighters, dropped to their knees and crawled into the apartment. Smoke and flames drove them back.

"We were kind of worried that it was going to flash on us," Craig said. "There was nothing we could do. All you could hear was the fire."

A funeral for the four victims will be held at 10 a.m. Thursday at Salem Lutheran Church at Farrar, Mo., Matthew Muench's hometown. Burial will be in the church cemetery.

Visitation will be from 4 to 9 p.m. today at Young and Sons Funeral Home in Perryville, Mo.

A fund has been set up at Peoples Bank of Altenburg to help defray funeral expenses and assist the family.

Matthew Muench works at Cape Tractor Trailer Supply in Cape Girardeau, a truck and trailer replacement parts distributor.

Tears flowed from Muench's co-workers Tuesday. "The whole place is heartbroken over it," said Dick Keene, company president. "There hasn't been a dry eye in this place all morning. It is just a tragedy."

Matthew Muench had worked for the company for the past year and a half, moving back to this area from Terre Haute, Ind., where he had worked for a Freightliner dealership, Keene said.

Keene said the tragedy is hard to take. "Your heart goes out to anyone who suffers like that. Thank God the one little boy was saved."