22-05-2025
Homeowner describes how his family escaped burning home that left 3 dead
DES MOINES, Iowa – Early on Wednesday morning tragedy struck the Easter Lake neighborhood as a family woke up to flames engulfing their entire house.
'So when he was going up, he woke up the mother who died. He woke her up first,' said Espy Vyizigiro, the daughter of the homeowner, Yotamu. Yotamu's daughter Espy translated for her father when interviewed by WHO 13 News.
The fire was described to have started right after 3 a.m. by the Des Moines Fire Department, but the family was not aware of the flames until right before 4 a.m., leaving little time to react. One of the family members was downstairs in a wheelchair when he realized that the house was burning. The individual crawled up the stairs in order to warn the family.
'So, he was also going up the stairs coming to wake us up along with my mother who also came out with him,' said Espy. 'And we don't know how my mother went back. We don't know what she went to look for. She went back without us having noticed and that's how she died.'
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The three victims were Ndayirorere Yuliana, 72, Yotamu's wife and Espy's mother; Shannnella Nshimillimana, 18, Yotamu's daughter-in-law who was pregnant, and his niece Angela Peniel, who was 3-years-old. A GoFundMe has been set up for the family, as they were not able to get anything out of the burning home and are staying with other family members and friends.
The family was helped by neighbors and congregation members of the Holy Spirit Unity Church in Des Moines. Yotamu is a pastor there, and explained how his extended family, neighbors and congregation showed up to help them while the house was still burning.
Yotamu has not had time to process the loss, describing himself as depressed in the wake of losing his wife, a pregnant daughter-in-law and his 3-year-old helped in the rescue efforts, providing blankets for the escaped victims and water for first responders. One neighbor described the horror he woke up to.
'When you visibly see people being brought out of the house and, you know, obviously they're you know, they're in body bags and you can't see them, but, you know. And it, it just, it goes to you. So, you just have to pray and, you know, just hope for the family,' said Dan Claman, a neighbor who lives right across the street.
The Des Moines Police Department is working through the investigation, but looks to be able to rule out foul play. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
'It looks to be that it burned really quickly and it looks like there was a handmade structure out back that may have been part of that. That's that initial fire. So, those are where they're focusing their efforts right now. They're just going to follow the evidence where they take them,' said Sergeant Paul Parizek with the Des Moines Police Department.
The one other family member who was taken to the hospital was described as being in 'stable' condition by Sergeant Parizek.
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