Arson explored in Mundelein fire that killed 12-year-old, injured three

Arson is being explored as a cause of a house fire early Saturday in Mundelein that killed a 12-year-old boy and injured his mother and two sisters, authorities said.

Jorge Juarez, 12, died in the fire that gutted his home on the 200 block of Prospect Avenue. Lake County Coroner Richard Keller said the boy was pronounced dead at the scene and that an autopsy revealed he died of smoke inhalation.

Mundelein police said Jorge's mother, Virginia Estrada, 44, and his sisters, Adriana Juarez, 16, and Virginia Juarez, 11, were injured as they fled the blaze.

Estrada and the two girls were initially taken to Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville, but Virginia Juarez was transferred to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood. A hospital spokeswoman said Saturday night there wasn't any information available about Virginia.

Adriana Juarez was treated and released from Condell, but her mother was there in critical condition late Saturday, spokeswoman Chris Vicik said.

Keller said investigators are looking at arson as a possible cause of the fire because it started on the home's front porch. Mundelein police are probing, with help from the Lake County Major Crimes Task Force and the state fire marshal.

Tony Skaronea, a neighbor who lives two doors down from the burnt-out home, said a neighbor walking his dog awoke him shortly after 3 a.m. and the pair ran over to the house to see if there was anybody inside.

"We heard people screaming, so I got dressed real fast and went over there," Skaronea said. "There was an older woman and a younger girl who had already jumped out of the window. The girl had burns all over her arms and was just crying hysterically. We tried getting inside the house, but there were flames everywhere."

The blaze was called into the fire department at 3:16 a.m. Saturday. When emergency crews arrived, there was heavy smoke and fire on the first and second floors of the home, fire officials said. Six fire engines, four fire trucks, one squad and four ambulances were on the scene.

Tom Faulkner and his wife, Kori, were in downstate Bloomington visiting friends when they received an early morning call from friends saying their neighbor's house had caught fire. The couple cut their weekend trip short and came back to find the siding on one side of their house melted away from the flames.

"This is nothing, obviously," Tom Faulkner said of the damage to his home. "We're praying for the family living next door. What happened to them was devastating."

Neighbors said they didn't know Jorge Juarez or any of the people injured in Saturday's fire. The family was apparently renting the home and had just moved in three weeks ago, several neighbors said.

Crews spent Saturday afternoon cleaning debris on the property and boarding up the windows and doors of the burned two-story home as neighbors continued to pass by the home and quiz each other about the status of the family living inside.

"It's been busy around here all day," said Bill Hahn, a resident who lives on the block. "People become fast friends after something like this happens in the neighborhood."

Damage to the home is estimated at $150,000, officials said. Keller said there was at least one working smoke detector in the home.

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