In the early hours of a Wednesday in March 2011, a fire on Rolfs Place on Detroit’s east side killed 8-year-old Alaya Cook and her 10-year-old sister, Lataya. The girls were trapped on the second floor; their father, Dante Cook, escaped by jumping from a second-floor window and says he tried to get them to follow but they were too frightened to jump. Both girls were third and fourth graders at a nearby elementary school.

Investigators treated the blaze as suspicious after finding an accelerant at the scene, and the Detroit Police Department opened an arson investigation that was handled as a homicide case. In the days after the fire both parents were questioned; Dante Cook reportedly took a polygraph, and the mother initially agreed to one but later declined. No arrests or suspects have been publicly announced.

Anyone who knew Alaya or Lataya, or who has information about the fire on Rolfs Place, is asked to come forward.