These three siblings adopted by a now separated same-sex couple have been burned to death in a fire at the home of one of their dads who has now been arrested on suspicion of killing them.

The father whose turn it was to have custody of the children, 33-year-old Ricardo Reis de Farias e Vieira, has been arrested after neighbours claim to have heard the kids screaming dad, please don’t leave us to die.

Ricardo claims he woke up to discover the smoke, and tried to get into the children’s bedroom where the fire was, but was unable to break down the locked door and so ran to the nearby police station in the Brazilian municipality of Poa on 17th February.

The police came to the scene and managed to break down the door, but the flames prevented them from reaching the children.

As a result, they had to wait for firemen, who were only able to remove the three charred bodies from the family home.

The siblings’ other adoptive father, 36-year-old Leandro Jose Reis de Farias e Vieira, who lives around 50 minutes away by car in the municipality of Mogi das Cruzes, arrived at the scene the following morning in a state of shock.

The police are currently investigating the cause of the fire. Officer Edson Vieira told local media: “At the moment we’re working with all possibilities. We’re not ruling anything out.”

The police are currently questioning witnesses and will analyse CCTV footage as part of the ongoing investigation.

Ricardo and Edson were married for 15 years and recently separated with the children changing hands every week.

Fernanda, 14, and Gabriel, 9, were biological siblings and were adopted by the couple in 2014. Lorenzo, 2, was adopted in 2019.

They were buried in the municipal cemetery of Poa on the morning of 18th February.

Police arrested Ricardo because of alleged contradictions in his statement to the police including the fact that he told officers he called for his children when he was allegedly trying to break down their locked door, but they didn’t reply.

However, according to police officer Eliardo Jordao, a neighbour told him she heard one of the children screaming: “Dad, don’t let me die here.”

The police also said they are suspicious of why the room’s windows had grills on them hindering the children’s escape, why the baby was sleeping in the other siblings’ room when he usually slept in his dad’s room, and why the children’s door was apparently locked.

They suspect that Ricardo may have set fire to the room himself because he was unable to accept the end of his relationship with Leandro.

According to Leandro, Ricardo had tried to get back together a few months ago, claiming it did not make sense to live without a united family.

Friends and family of both men say they loved their children.

The investigation continues.

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