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A Michigan woman is facing charges after her father died in a fire. Prosecutors said that Kendra Krueger lit candles in her house after a car accident knocked out power in her neighborhood.
Krueger was the primary caretaker for her 89-year-old father, Ronald Guy Krueger, who suffered from dementia and limited mobility.
After she lit the candles, she fell asleep but was awoken by her father screaming. She rushed to see what was wrong and found him in the kitchen with his clothes on fire. She called 911 and used her bare hands to try to put out the flames that engulfed her father.
Despite being told to wait for paramedics by the 911 operator, Krueger drove her father to the hospital. He suffered third-degree burns over 40% of his body and died two days later.
After a five-month-long investigation, prosecutors decided to charge Krueger with a felony count of second-degree vulnerable adult abuse.
The charging documents accuse Krueger of causing "serious physical harm to Ronald Guy Krueger, a vulnerable adult, by leaving candles that were lit around a person with dementia and no supervision."
Assistant Kent County Prosecutor Elizabeth Bartlett said that if Krueger refuses to plead guilty to the charges, she will be brought to trial on charges of involuntary manslaughter.
If she pleads guilty to the vulnerable adult abuse charge, she faces up to four years in jail. If she is convicted of involuntary manslaughter, she could face up to 15 years behind bars.
Krueger's lawyers have pushed back against the charges.
"If there is evidence Kendra committed a crime here, certainly a felony offense, we have yet to see it," defense attorney Heath Lynch told MLive/The Grand Rapids Press. "She was trying to do right by her father," he said. "Kendra is devastated and heartbroken over it."
"She suffered burns herself, putting him out. She put him out. It was a very confusing and chaotic time, as you can imagine," he added.