On a bitterly cold Friday in Defiance, Missouri, an ordinary snow day turned into an unthinkable nightmare. Julian and Jamison Keiser should have been in school, complaining about the weather, waiting for recess. Instead, a canceled school day kept them at home, in the path of an explosion that left their house a burning cage. Their mother, Evelyn Turpiano, and grandparents, Jennifer and Vern Ham, stumbled out alive, forced to watch as flames devoured the place where the boys still were.

Firefighters fought the blaze with everything they had, but heat and collapse kept them from reaching the children in time. Now, only questions and ashes remain. The cause of the blast is still unknown, a cruel blank in a story already too painful. The Hoffmann Family of Companies, which owned the property, has promised support, but no amount of help can fill the empty beds, the silenced laughter, or a mother’s shattered world.