Woman was shopping while fire killed four children in her care

Investigators found that the operator of a Texas home day care centre where a fire killed four children had left the youngsters in her care alone to go shopping, according to a court document.

Surveillance video shows Jessica Tata shopping at a store about a mile from the property in Houston when the fire started on Thursday, investigators said in a probable cause affidavit.

Investigators believe the fire, in which three other children were injured, was started by an oven top burner that had been left on.

The children ranged in age from 18 months to three years.

Tata, 22, has fled to Nigeria since being charged over the fire, and US authorities are still trying to locate her. She has been charged with reckless injury to a child and faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

Harris County District Attorney Pat Lykos said her office plans on filing nine more charges against Tata. They will include six more charges of reckless injury to a child and three charges of child endangerment.

“I would urge the Tata family ... that they have Ms Tata return to Harris County and face justice,” Ms Lykos said.

Authorities earlier this week had said that Tata was a native of Nigeria, but Ms Lykos said Tata is a US citizen who was born in Harris County and apparently has family in Nigeria.

The video shows Tata entering the store at 1.09pm and driving away at 1.24pm. The first emergency call about the fire was made at 1.29pm, according to the affidavit.

Tata had told neighbours immediately after the fire that it started in the kitchen while she was in the bathroom.

Houston Fire Department investigators have said in court documents that two of Tata’s neighbours described seeing her drive up and go into the home where the day care centre was located, then hearing her screaming seconds after she went in the front door. They saw smoke coming from inside.

According to the probable cause affidavit, one of Tata’s neighbours, Sandra Sawyer, told investigators she tried to reassure Tata at the fire scene that everything was going to be okay because firefighters had arrived quickly, but Tata told her: “Oh no, the fire was going for a long time.”

Ms Sawyer also told investigators that when she asked Tata whether another woman might have been in the home but had fled, Tata responded: “Oh no, I was the only one there today.”

Fire department investigators also spoke with six parents whose children were at the centre and they all said they never saw another employee other than Tata when they dropped off or picked up their children.

Two of the injured children remain in Shiners Hospital for Children in Galveston. Their conditions have been upgraded to stable and improving, hospital spokeswoman Jo Ann Zuniga said.

The US Marshals Service in Houston is still trying to confirm that Tata is in Nigeria, said agency spokesman Alfredo Perez.

Joachim Olumba, a spokesman for the Nigerian Immigration Service, said he had no information about Tata or her whereabouts.