(CNN) — Investigators were working early Tuesday to figure out what caused a fire in a home in Marion County, Florida, that killed five children.

Firefighters got a call about the blaze at about 10:40 p.m. and arrived eight minutes after the emergency call, said Peveeta Persaud, a spokesperson for Marion County Fire Rescue.

“When they arrived the structure was fully engulfed,” said Persaud. “It was a wooden structure.”

Two girls, ages 6 and 12, were killed in the blaze, along with three boys, ages 8, 13 and 15.

At least three other people in the home were able to escape and were taken to nearby hospitals, the spokeswoman said.

The fire marshal and other officials were working to determine what caused the blaze, Persaud said.

A neighbor told CNN affiliate WKMG that she was able to break a window and help get one woman out of the home but the smoke and fire was so treacherous that she could not help any of the others.

“The whole house was engulfed in flames. And I heard the mom yell, ‘My babies, my babies are inside,’” said the sobbing neighbor, who was not identified. “It is very, very sad because I wanted to get all the babies out. My kids play with their kids.”

Marion County is located about 90 miles northwest of Orlando, Florida.

Source (article): CNN

Source (picture): OBIT-MAG.COM

ORLANDO, Fla. - Stan Van Gundy turned to his assistant coaches on the Orlando Magic bench, unsure what to do with star Dwight Howard finally avoiding foul trouble and his team on his way to a blowout victory.

“Should I give Dwight a rest?” Van Gundy asked. “They said, ’No. Just let it ride.”’

What a ride it was.

Howard had 21 points and 12 rebounds in one of the most crushing playoff wins in Magic history, a 114-71 victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday night in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference semifinal.

Howard added five blocks and avoided the fouls and frustration that overwhelmed him in the first round, helping the Magic go ahead by as many as 46 points. Vince Carter finished with 20 points as Orlando showed no signs of rust after an eight-day layoff since sweeping Charlotte.

Maybe all Howard needed was some time to cool off.

“I still played about the same amount of minutes,” Howard said, chuckling, because he wasn’t needed much in the fourth. “The first round is over with.”

Josh Smith scored 14 points and Zaza Pachulia had 12 points for a Hawks team that had little playoff poise. Game 2 in the best-of-seven series is Thursday night in Orlando, and Atlanta will have to find some way to rally from such a paralyzing defeat.

“It’s embarrassing,” Hawks point guard Mike Bibby said. “They embarrassed us.”

Only a 47-point win in the first round against Boston in 1995 was a larger margin of victory in a playoff game for Orlando. This was just one big Magic highlight reel.

Nothing riled up fans more than when Howard snatched a layup attempt by Smith in the air, pulling down the ball with one hand. He threw the ball upcourt to Jason Williams, who lobbed a pass from just past midcourt for an alley-oop dunk to Mickael Pietrus that was part of 17 straight Magic points in the second quarter.

The arena was roaring so loud that, even after Hawks coach Mike Woodson called timeout and was on the floor pleading with officials for a goaltend, many players couldn’t hear the whistle and continued.

Finally, somebody had to tell the Magic to stop.

“I think the challenge is not to get carried away with the score,” Van Gundy said. “It was one of those nights where everything just snowballed.”

Timeouts might have been Atlanta’s only reprieve.

The Hawks were held to 10 points in the second quarter, and just 11 points in the third. Howard and most of the Magic starters weren’t even needed in the fourth, and Atlanta players covered their heads with towels on the bench in the final minutes.

Fresh off a Game 7 victory against undermanned Milwaukee, the Hawks were outhustled and outmuscled at every step. The little more than 48-hour turnaround didn’t keep them sharp, and they looked more like the team trying to get back in rhythm.

And they could do nothing to stop Howard.

“I didn’t allow anything to throw me off my game,” Howard said, adding that he made it a point not to engage officials about calls. “And I think that’s what I have to do the rest of the series, just not let things take me off my game, just stay free and clear.”

The Magic came out and hit the Hawks where it hurt — literally.

Howard grabbed a defensive rebound and swung his elbow to shake off Smith, hitting Atlanta’s forward in the face. Howard was whistled for a foul, and Smith iced down his cheek on the bench during a break.

The Hawks didn’t know what hit them.

“They made a run,” Pachulia said, “and they never looked back.”

That inside-outside game with Howard in the paint was the biggest reason Atlanta has struggled against its Southeast Division rival for several seasons. The Magic had taken six straight regular-season games in the series until the Hawks won on a buzzer-beating dunk by Smith in their last meeting.

“It was an ugly game for us,” Woodson said of the latest defeat. “I wish I knew what happened.”

Howard and Co. weren’t taking any chances this time.

If the NBA’s two-time defensive player of the year can avoid foul trouble, it could be another quick second-round stint for Atlanta. The Hawks were swept by Cleveland in the conference semifinals last year, and they’ll need to find a way to slow down Howard to have any chance this time.

Van Gundy was already thinking about how his team could put the win behind them.

“I told them that (Wednesday) I will have for them virtually every time in NBA playoff history that a team had a blowout win, came back and lost the next game,” Van Gundy said. “You’ve got to forget what happened.”

NOTES: NBA commissioner David Stern announced earlier in the day that Orlando’s new arena would host the 2012 All-Star game. … The fewest points an opponent has ever scored against Orlando in a playoff game was 68. … Actor Chris Tucker was among those in attendance.

Source (article): MSNBC

Source (photo): ORLANDOSENTINEL

Deputies said Jose Maisonet-Maldonado stabbed his girlfriend Saturday night and then ran over her. He then led deputies on a chase before he crashed into two cars on Colonial Drive.

Maisonet-Maldonado is in serious condition at Orlando Regional Medical Center where he is being treated for his injuries. He faces charges for murder, vehicular homicide and running from deputies.

On Sunday, there was a memorial at Jay Blanchard Park for 35-year-old Berlitz Alvelo. Orange County sheriff’s investigators said the day before her boyfriend, 25-year-old Jose Maisonet-Maldonado stabbed her in the park, and ran over her body with his car.

Alvelo called 911 before she died.

“He called my grandmother and he told her what he did,” said Ariannette Alvelo, victim’s niece.

When deputies caught up with Maisonet-Maldonado, he led them on a chase that ended on Colonial Drive near Interstate-4.

The suspect crashed his white BMW into a red, two-door and another car that was damaged beyond recognition.

Amanda Taylor and Franschesca Jeffrey were each inside one of the vehicles and were killed.

“My heart also goes out to others who lost their loves one. They also lost their loved ones too,” said Alvelo.

Family members said the couple had a violent, five-year-long relationship. Those who live near the couple’s Curry Ford home told Eyewitness News they heard the couple fight all the time and the police were called to their home several times.

“I’m not angry with him because the law will deal with him properly,” said Alvelo, victim’s niece.

The family of the woman killed in the crash, Amanda Taylor, released a statement about her death.

Her brother said she was, “a loving woman, who adored her family and friends. She worked at Florida Hospital, and cared about others, and she will be deeply missed.”

Taylor just celebrated her 28th birthday last Tuesday.

Maisonet-Maldonado has been arrested for battery and domestic violence in the past. In 2005, he was accused of beating his girlfriend with a hammer outside a convenience store off Dean Road in East Orange County. It is not known if the alleged victim in that case was Berlitz Alvelo.

Now, he faces first-degree murder charges and two count of vehicular homicide.

Source (article): WFTV

Source (picture): KATU

CLEVELAND - LeBron James chewed on his fingernails as he talked quietly with Mo Williams in the corner of Cleveland’s muted locker room.

As they reviewed the game’s final seconds, the two stars stared blankly at a boxscore floating in an ice tub above James’ feet.

They looked stunned. And for good reason.

No longer untested, no longer unbeaten. The Cavaliers finally met their match in the playoffs.

Dwight Howard scored 30 points, Rashard Lewis added 22 and the Orlando Magic rallied from a 15-point halftime deficit to hand James and the Cavaliers their first loss of the postseason, 107-106 on Wednesday night in the Eastern Conference finals opener.

James finished with 49 points, eight assists and six rebounds, but the league MVP limped off the floor after Cleveland’s loss — just its third in 46 home games.

“Nobody said it was going to be easy,” said Cavs guard Delonte West, who missed an open 3-pointer with five seconds remaining. “This one hurts.”

Lewis made a 3-pointer with 14.7 seconds left and the Magic, who dethroned the champion Boston Celtics in seven games in the previous round, survived two shots by Cleveland in the closing seconds. Williams missed a catch-and-shoot jumper off a jump ball as the horn sounded, dropping the Cavs to 8-1 in the postseason.

“It’s a big victory,” said Howard, who broke one of the shot clocks with a dunk in the opening minutes. “We kept fighting the whole game. We kept believing we could win.”

Hedo Turkoglu scored 15 points with 14 assists for Orlando.

Game 2 is Friday night at Quicken Loans Arena, which fell eerily silent after the Magic’s win.

As fans headed to the exits, they turned to observe James still on the floor and bent over in obvious pain. He seemed to be bothered by cramps in the fourth quarter and was tended to by Cleveland’s training staff before slowly making his way to the locker room.

Perhaps the long layoff — the Cavs hadn’t played since May 11 — contributed to James not being himself at the end.

Cleveland gave this one away. The Cavaliers lost their grip on the game with a stagnant third quarter that carried into the fourth.

Orlando, which went 2-1 vs. Cleveland in the regular season, took its first lead at 85-84 with 10:06 left when Anthony Johnson buried a 3-pointer from the left corner. The bucket seemed to suck the air out of the raucous building and Cavs coach Mike Brown quickly called a timeout to stop the Magic’s run and get James back in.

The Magic, though, kept making big shots with Lewis hitting a jumper with 31.6 seconds left to give Orlando a 104-103 lead.

James then drove and scored on a runner while drawing a sixth foul on Howard, who added 13 rebounds. James completed the three-point play for a 106-104 lead but Lewis came down and nailed his 3-pointer over a closing Anderson Varejao.

Source (article): NBCSPORTS

Source (pictures): EVERYJOE, BBALLCITY

ORLANDO, Florida (CNN) — The remains found in a wooded area last week in Orange County, Florida, are those of Caylee Anthony, authorities confirmed at a news conference Friday.

The announcement marks the end of a six-month search for the 2-year-old.

“It is with regret that I’m here to inform you that the skeletal remains found on December 1 are those of the missing toddler,” Orange County Medical Examiner Dr. Jan Garavaglia said.

She said the cause of death was homicide, but she could not determine how Caylee was killed.

Casey Anthony, 22, faces charges including first-degree murder in the June disappearance of her daughter. Remains described as being those of a small child were found last week a half-mile from Casey Anthony’s parents’ home, in the area where a meter reader first directed police.

At Friday’s news conference, police will identify the meter reader who, they said Thursday, called the department four months ago, directing them to the site of the remains three times in August.

At a Thursday news conference, Capt. Angelo Nieves, a Sheriff’s Department commander, said investigators were looking into whether the tips, called in August 11, 12 and 13, were properly followed up.

In one of those phone calls, the meter reader reported seeing a gray bag on the side of the road, Nieves said. On August 13, a deputy responded to the site and did a “cursory search” but found nothing, Nieves said.

Nieves said police were getting more information from the tipster and the deputy who responded to the tips. He said the department was investigating the “thoroughness” of the deputy’s response but would not identify the deputy.

The meter reader “is not a suspect,” Nieves said. “He is a credible witness.”

Nieves’ latest announcement is raising questions about whether police missed several chances to find remains believed to be Caylee’s.

The meter reader is not the only one, or the first, to have pointed police toward the site containing the remains.

KioMarie Cruz, Casey Anthony’s childhood friend, also told police to investigate the same wooded area near Hidden Oaks Elementary School a month before the meter reader, according to CNN affiliate WFTV.

In an interview with detectives, according to WFTV, Cruz said that she and Anthony “pretty much used to hang out there most of our time,” would “snack on food for hours” and went there to “get away from our parents.”

The Sheriff’s Department followed up on that tip, but the wooded area was covered in floodwaters, preventing a search. Nieves said the water may have been present at the time of the meter reader’s tips as well.

Nieves also said Thursday that searchers combing the site after the skull’s discovery had found “significant skeletal remains” consistent with those of a small child on the outer perimeter of the search area.

The area will be enlarged, and processing and searching of the site will continue, probably into the weekend, he said.

Some of the remains have been sent to the FBI lab in Quantico, Virginia, in an effort to identify them. Authorities have said the remains are believed to be Caylee’s, but an identification is pending.

Sheriff’s spokesman Carlos Padilla said last week that authorities believe the remains are Caylee’s for three reasons: No other children have been reported missing in the area; the remains are consistent with those of a child of Caylee’s age; and the remains were found near the home of the grandparents, where the 2-year-old and her mother were living just before Caylee disappeared.

FBI spokesman Richard Kolko said Monday that he did not know when tests would be complete, but an attorney for Anthony’s parents said the FBI is likely to have results “within the next week.”

Casey Anthony could face a sentence of life in prison if convicted. Prosecutors said this month that they would not seek the death penalty.

SOURCE: CNN.COM