Couple Charged After 2 Children Die in Fire

CARTERET, N.J. — A couple who left a small girl and her toddler brother alone while they went shopping and then returned to find that a fire had killed them were charged with endangering the welfare of the children.

Lisa Johnson, 22, and Edward Boyd, 37, father of the younger victim, were arraigned and then released on their own recognizance after a hearing Wednesday in Municipal Court.

They returned about noon Tuesday to the house where they had left Ashley Johnson, 4, and her 17-month-old brother, Christopher, and found firefighters putting out a blaze, said Robert Gluck, the Middlesex County prosecutor.

Fire investigators said they found that the fire had started on an electric stove where two burners had been left on, melting pots and igniting nearby paneling.