There will be no charges filed in the July 28, 2018 fire at the Cosmo Extended Stay motel in Benton Township that killed a woman and five of her children between the ages of 2 and 10. Berrien County Prosecutor Mike Sepic says the fire was caused by the careless use of a hotplate by a resident in room 135, which he says does not reach the level of gross negligence to result in criminal charges. Additionally, he says the investigation found some long-term residents of the motel had disabled their smoke detectors, which is not something the owner of the building, Sodus Hospitality, could be charged for. Sepic adds smoke was not a factor in room 212 where the six members of the Curtis family were killed, and the lack of an alarm in the room did not delay their attempts to get out. Because of when the motel was built, it was not required to have smoke alarms connected in series, which had it been a newer building with that requirement, the prosecutor says it might have resulted in the Curtis family trying to get out sooner than they did. A May 2016 inspection by the state found several fire and life safety components had been fixed by the building owner.
The fire killed 26-year-old Kiarre Curtis, ten-year-old Marquise Thompson, seven-year-old Gerome Randolph, five-year-old Samuel Curtis, four-year-old Savod Curtis, and two-year-old Avery Curtis. Her 36-year-old husband Samuel Curtis and their one-year-old daughter Autumn Curtis survived the fire. He and the baby were helped off the balcony by Michigan State Police troopers and Berrien County Sheriff’s deputies, and he told them the rest of his family was trapped in a smoke-filled hallway trying to get out.
