‘They were screaming for their lives,’ Alpine fire survivor testifies

Corey Evans lived in the Alpine Motel Apartments for just three months before a fire broke out inside his apartment and left six people dead.

He said he had often left his stove or oven turned on in order to heat the apartment in December. One day, as he returned from an early-morning short trip to a nearby 7-Eleven, he noticed smoke and rushed inside.

“I smelled smoke before I even got down the hallway,” he testified Wednesday. “I started panicking and knocking on neighbors’ doors, screaming for people to get out of the building.”

He described a chaotic scene as other residents tried to escape, some leaping from upper-floor windows.

“They were screaming for their lives,” he said. “Everybody was screaming.”

Prosecutors said the building’s owner, Adolfo Orozco, and property manager, Malinda Mier, neglected the apartments for months, even after residents complained about a multitude of problems. The two are charged with six counts of manslaughter — one count for each of the deceased — and 15 counts of performance of an act or neglect of duty in disregard of safety resulting in substantial bodily harm or death.

For months, prosecutors said, Orozco refused to pay for repairs to a rear exit door that had been bolted shut, preventing some from getting out during the fire, a focus of the monthslong investigation by police that led to charges.

Investigators have pointed to a stovetop in Apartment 8 as the origin for the Dec. 21 fire at 213 N. Ninth St. The blaze at the 41-unit building constructed in 1972 also left 13 people injured and dozens displaced.

As he testified during a preliminary hearing for Orozco and Mier, Evans became visibly frustrated by questions from Orozco’s defense attorney, Dominic Gentile.

At one point, Evans pulled a mask from his face and walked out of the courtroom.

“I don’t got nothing else to say to this guy,” Evans said.

He was eventually ordered back to the witness stand.

Prosecutor Leah Beverly said asked whether Evans heard any fire alarms or smoke detectors as smoke billowed through the building. He responded that he did not.

In 25 of the apartments, residents claimed smoke detectors did not work, and there were no heaters or broken heaters in 19 apartments, reports stated. Fifteen of the residents said they used the stove or oven to heat their apartments “because they had no other option.”

When the prosecutor asked whether Evans suffered injuries in the fire, he said that he still has trouble breathing and “can’t sleep without my clothes next to me now.”

Orozco also faces four counts of using a deadly weapon to prevent or dissuade a witness or victim from reporting a crime. Both defendants are out of custody after posting bail.

Justice of the Peace Ann Zimmerman is expected to decide whether Orozco and Mier should stand trial on the charges.

Contact David Ferrara at dferrara@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-1039. Follow @randompoker on Twitter.