A year after fatal fire, families beg for answers
Cheryl Estes clutched the handmade box holding her late son’s sheet music to her heart, pressed her cheek to the polished wood and cried.
The heat-withered pages were among the few items that San Marcos firefighters salvaged from Dru Estes’ apartment after an inferno gutted his entire building, killing the young San Antonio musician and four other people one year ago.
The precious sheet music — which Estes used for his performances in Texas State University’s Bobcat Marching Band — was professionally restored before being returned to his parents Saturday.
They and relatives of some of the victims came together to mark the anniversary of the fire at Iconic Village Apartments and plead for help in finding out who deliberately started it. They hope a bigger reward than the $10,000 offered so far will elicit information that could lead to an arrest.
One survivor, Zachary Sutterfield, 21, who suffered a head injury and was burned on over 70 percent of his body, addressed whoever was responsible.
“I can never understand why you would do something like this, why you would take so much away from so many families and why you would hurt so many people,” said Sutterfield, who has been recovering from 24 surgeries in San Antonio.
“I was always taught that God forgives and you have to be the better person. It’s hard. It’s hard. But if the person that’s out there is watching this, I forgive you.”
Many of the victims’ parents broke into quiet sobs at Sutterfield’s words.
The unidentified arsonist has remained elusive as investigators have chased thousands of leads and conducted hundreds of interviews during the past year.
Four of the slain victims’ families united at an Army Fisher House facility at Brooke Army Medical Center, where Sutterfield has been living in recent months as he continues to recover.
They shared memories of their children, tears, laughs and prayers, finding strength among each other. Some of the mothers wept as they met each other for the first time, embracing silently.
The July 20, 2018, fire was unusual because of its intensity and the number of people killed.
The devastating inferno erupted at 4:27 a.m., two hours before sunrise, as most residents were asleep, ripping through one apartment building at 222 Ramsay St. just blocks from the Texas State University campus and spreading to two other buildings.
The dead — Dru Estes, 20, of San Antonio; Haley Michele Frizzell, 19, of San Angelo; James Phillip Miranda, 23, of Mount Pleasant; Belinda Moats, 21, of Big Wells; and David Angel Ortiz, 21, of Pasadena — were in four separate apartments of Building 500, all on the second floor.
Their deaths were ruled homicides. Some of the victims died from burns, while others succumbed to a combination of burns and smoke inhalation.
Sutterfield, who was sleeping in the same apartment as Frizzell and Ortiz, barely escaped. He was caught in the flames when the three of them ran outside together. He suffered a traumatic brain injury when he leaped from a second-story outdoor balcony.
He survived full thickness burns to his head, face, chest, back, arms, hands and feet. Most of his fingers and portions of his hands were destroyed, along with one of his ears. He’s endured 24 surgeries at the U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research, but estimates he faces 20 to 30 more operations.
Six other survivors suffered less severe injuries, such as broken bones.
Four months after the catastrophe, investigators revealed the fire was deliberately set. They’ve declined to publicly disclose specifically where and how it was ignited.
Investigators confirmed they have no suspects, but told the families they remain committed to solving the case. The San Marcos Fire Marshal’s office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are handling the investigation.
The mystery — and the fact that no one has been arrested — adds to the families’ pain.
“I am angry. I’m very mad. I’ve watched my son suffer for a year,” Sutterfield’s mother, Deona Jo “DJ” Sutterfield, said in a shaking voice before breaking into tears as the other families surrounded her closely Saturday.
“Someone knows something. Someone saw something. Someone has talked to a girlfriend, a boyfriend, a mom, a dad. If you’re sitting there holding it in, you’re just as guilty as that person that took these lives . ... You’re a coward.”
“I just need that person to stand up, be a man, be accountable,” said Miranda’s mother, Ginger Kesterson of Winfield. “Let us have our closure. Let us be able to move on.”
Learning the motivation for the fire seems just as important as the question of who set it.
“I would love to find out that they did not intend to kill people,” said Ortiz’s grandmother, Martha Blain of Houston. “Not knowing is terrible. It’s all consuming.”
“I’ve felt all along that if we find out that they didn’t really intend to hurt anybody, that would be easier to forgive,” said Ortiz’s mother, Gina Ortiz of Pasadena.
All of the families who gathered Saturday said the reward of up to $10,000 offered by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives isn’t enough to spur someone to step forward with information.
That money is being dangled with hopes of snaring tips that could lead to the identification or arrest of the person responsible.
Frizzell’s father said he believes $50,000 or $100,000 would be a more appropriate amount, considering that five lives were lost. He pledged $10,000 of his own money on Saturday to double the current offering.
“If you know something and you’re going to tell on a friend, you might do that for $50,000 or $100,000, but you’re probably not doing it for $10,000,” said Brian Frizzell of San Angelo. “If you’re afraid of somebody, $10,000 isn’t enough to go somewhere and risk it.”
Zachary Sutterfield’s father said his family felt the current reward amount was “a slap in the face” when it was first announced last year.
“It’s basically $2,000 for every person that dies and doesn’t even take into account my son and the other hundreds of people that were affected,” Karl Sutterfield said. “I think it’s a very minimal amount of money and I don’t see it being an incentive for somebody who has information. It just doesn’t send the right signal to us that they really want to find this person.”
In the past week, San Marcos city officials and other “outside partners” discussed how to offer a more substantial reward, Fire Marshal Kelly Kistner said. That possibility is still being explored.
The ATF also is investigating such options, Special Agent Nicole Strong confirmed Saturday.
The parents of all the victims killed and the Sutterfields have filed lawsuits against the owners and managers of Iconic Village Apartments, accusing them of safety lapses at the property. Those sued have denied any wrongdoing.
Brian Frizzell said he noticed one month before the fire that there were no smoke detectors in either of the bedrooms at the apartment that his daughter and David Ortiz shared.
Around that same time, the only smoke detector in the apartment — mounted in the living room — had a faltering battery that was beeping, Frizzell said. He said he replaced the battery himself.
And there were other problems at the property. Miranda’s brother, Jonathan Terry of Mount Pleasant, recalled that Miranda’s bedroom window would not open during a visit to his apartment at Iconic Village. That window faced a narrow alleyway and was very close to another apartment building, he said.
“The breezeways were full of furniture from people being able to lounge outside,” Terry said. “I don’t feel like it would be safe for kids trying to get out. They’ve got obstacles everywhere, trying to get out of there.”
The apartments weren’t equipped with fire sprinklers because they were built in 1970 — a time when such safety equipment wasn’t required. San Marcos’ fire code doesn’t require retrofitting existing buildings with sprinklers unless the structure undergoes significant renovations.
Fire department officials said last year they weren’t aware of any major remodeling at Iconic Village that would have required sprinklers to be installed.
Ortiz’s mother said it never occurred to her to look for a fire sprinkler system at her son’s apartment building, but noted she felt reassured because she knew there was a fire alarm there.
Haley Frizzell’s mother urged all parents sending their children off to college this fall to check the safety of any apartments they consider renting.
“Make sure everything’s up to code,” Michele Frizzell said. “We walked through there — but I didn’t know at the time to ask ‘Are there firewalls here? How many smoke detectors are supposed to be in the room?’ Those are things you need to know before you go look at the apartment. Then confirm that they have those.”
Sutterfield still faces a long road. He hasn’t been able to return home to San Angelo since the fire. He’s unable to travel due to the extent of his injuries.
In the next several months, he will undergo a neurosurgery to fully restore his skull, part of which was removed to relieve pressure on his swelling brain after he suffered the head injury.
A team of surgeons from all over the world will build a new pair of hands for Sutterfield, in what is expected to be the first procedure of its kind in the United States, his mother said. The hand surgeries will take two years to complete.
Sutterfield has become a hero of sorts to the San Marcos Fire Department, which provided lunch for all of the families Saturday.
Moats was the only victim whose relatives were unable to attend.
Fire Chief Les Stephens presented Estes’ sheet music to his parents in a handmade pecan wood box constructed by one of the fire department’s battalion chiefs. Troy and Cheryl Estes of San Antonio appeared overwhelmed by the surprise.
Cheryl Estes said she had been nervous about meeting the other victims’ families, but she found it to be a source of support on a very difficult day.
“This is still going to be in our face until somebody’s caught,” she said.
“The Bible says tomorrow is not promised. Whoever’s responsible for this — or whoever knows something about this — there may not be a tomorrow for you to come forward. You need to come forward today.”
“I just need that person to stand up, be a man, be accountable. Let us have our closure. Let us be able to move on.” Ginger Kesterson, whose son Phillip Miranda died in the fire