WYOMING, Mich. — A Wyoming woman's garage caught on fire over the weekend with her three cats inside. The fire, started by two young boys.
Nikie Nevius and her family were out of town this weekend when the fire happened. She got the news from her husband.
Photos sent by her neighbors showed flames coming from the roof of the garage. The family rushed back home.
"My husband went in and he was like, well, I'm gonna get to the bottom of this because we had a camera up there," says Nevius.
What they saw on the footage, Nevius couldn't believe. Two young boys, who she recognized as her neighbors children and believes are no older than 13, playing with lighter fluid and gasoline.
"They were in the garage for like two hours, two and a half hours," says Nevius. "They just start lighting stuff on fire right in the middle of the concrete floor."
And to her horror, the family's three cats were still inside. One of the boys can be heard in the security footage saying, "there is a fire in the middle of this building ready to kill them."
"You can hear him say, 'don't worry kitties, someone will come help you'," says Nevius.
One of the three cats was killed in the fire. The body was so badly burnt Nevius isn't certain which cat it is.
"When we got sent the picture of the one cat's body that they did find, I mean, my husband doesn't cry and he was in tears," says Nevius.
She believes the other two made it out, possibly through a window in the back of the garage, begging social media for any help in finding them.
"We just want our babies back," says Nevius.
While the garage and its contents are lost to the flames, Nevius says that is at the back of her mind.
"I would take that loss 1,000 times over," says Nevius. "I would lose the whole house for her not to be dead and to not be searching for the other two."
The Wyoming Department of Public Safety says that it is aware of the incident, but can not comment on an ongoing investigation.
Nevius says she has been in contact with her insurance company and a lawyer about pursuing charges.
Nevius says her cats are shy and likely won't come if called, but asks anyone in the area with a live trap to put one out to safely capture them.
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