A woman was accused of killing two of her young children Tuesday by igniting a can of gasoline in her car as the toddlers sat trapped in the back seat, authorities said.
In a matter of seconds, flames and thick black smoke filled the car as the woman, Maria Montalvo, 29, was pulled from the open driver's door, her coat aflame. Then it exploded into a fireball in the driveway of Montalvo's in-laws' home as her husband and a neighbor tried in vain to unlock the two rear doors and pull the children to safety.Monmouth County Prosecutor John Kaye said the children, Rafael Aponte, 28 months old, and his sister, Zonaida Aponte, 18 months old, apparently died instantly. The little girl was strapped into a child safety seat in the back seat of the car, and her brother sat next to her.
Their mother, a registered nurse at the Rahway Hospital in Rahway, N.J., was accused of intentionally setting the fire and was charged with two counts of murder and one count of aggravated arson, Kaye said.
The prosecutor said his detectives late Tuesday afternoon had developed some information that Montalvo was trying to kill herself in the car fire.