An Indiana mother allegedly left her four children alone, and a fire erupted after she left. Tragically, the woman’s 7-year-old son died in the fire. Kirstin Bowers reportedly called 911 twice on June 5, 2025, but hung up the first time. During the second call, she reported a fire at her Arlington home. Three of her four children escaped, but her son David Bowers Jr. was not so lucky. Sadly, it appears Kirstin Bowers wanted to cover her tracks. Some believe she may not have been honest with police in the process.
Kirstin Bowers allegedly took a walk the day of the fire, WTHR reported. When she returned, her home was ablaze. She reportedly told police she fell asleep with a cigarette in her hand and the bed caught on fire. When speaking with investigators, she said she hung up after the first 911 call because she was “freaking out.” Kirstin Bowers claimed she tried to get her kids out of the home one by one.
Investigators noted in a police report obtained by WTHR that Kirstin Bowers didn’t smell of smoke. They also noticed she didn’t have any soot on her body. Officers asked her if she needed to tell them anything important. She allegedly said that if neighbors told them they saw her walking up to the home after the fire began, they were wrong. The mom claimed she got home minutes before, and her cigarette started the blaze.
It remains unclear what started the fire, but investigators aren’t buying the mother’s story. According to court documents, her Google search history in the days following the fire included “manslaughter sentence Indiana,” “voluntary manslaughter,” “reckless homicide sentence,” and “manslaughter of a child sentence Indiana.”
She created a GoFundMe account for herself hoping to raise money.
“On June 5th will forever be etched in my memory as the day my house caught fire and although I managed to safely rescue myself and three of my children, my precious 7-year-old autistic son, David Bowers Jr. despite the fearless efforts of the firefighters and my own endeavors attempts to rescue him,” she wrote on the page. “Sadly, he lost his life in the fire. I kindly asking for donations to help me with my hotel expenses. I don’t want the cash if you want to call Quality Inn in Shelbyville indiana and pay for a day or two I would gladly appreciated, it for everyone that has help me and still helping me words can’t explain how grateful I’m for all the help and love. Thank you.”
She’s raised $65 thus far.
David Bowers, Kirstin Bowers’ estranged husband, shared an incriminating post on Facebook condemning his wife.
“I can’t hold back no more man. It’s like im protecting my wife by not saying this and she should not be protected. For those of you that do not [know], my wife was not even home with the kids the day the fire happen. [Where] she was at, who knows! But I had plenty of neighbors that were at my burning house before she was,” he wrote in his post. “My three kids that made it. are only alive because they got themselves out of the front door. It eats me up inside that she is able to run the streets, and stay doped up, and not have to come to reality of what happen to my son, the day she f—-n neglected him.”
The father pleaded with friends and followers not to support Kirstin Bowers.
“Stop helping her, she don’t need food money, she don’t need money for a place to stay, she needs mental f—–g help and a lot of it. Bottom line is my son David Michael Bowers Jr. would be alive today if she did not neglect him that day,” David Bowers continued in his post. “Told the fire marshal she fell asleep with a cigarette we haven’t smoked in the house in 8 yrs. So here is some truth for everyone to swallow that thinks they need to give her money because you feel sorry for her.”
He also has created a GoFundMe account to help support his three remaining children and pay for his son’s memorial service, and it’s raised nearly $600 thus far.
According to WTRH, police arrested Kirstin Bowers on unrelated charges on July 22. Prosecutors charged her with neglect of a dependent resulting in death and three counts of neglect of a dependent on July 28. The fire remains under investigation.
