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Jennifer McCusker, Her 7-Year-Old And Twins, 2, To Be Laid To Rest Friday
Filed Under:Aidan Tarbell, Ava Jane Mistretta, Brendan Mistretta, fatal house fire, house fire, Jennifer McCusker, Mastic Beach, medical examiner, Shirley, Sophia Hall, St. Jude's Church, Suffolk County, Suffolk County Police
Memorial at the Shirley home where a mother and her 3 kids were killed in a fire, Oct. 14, 2013. (credit: Mike Xirinachs/WCBS 880)Memorial at the Shirley home where a mother and her 3 kids were killed in a fire, Oct. 14, 2013. (credit: Mike Xirinachs/WCBS 880)

SHIRLEY, N.Y (CBSNewYork) – A mother and her three young children killed in a Shirley, Long Island house fire on Friday night died of smoke inhalation, according to a report.

Jennifer McCusker’s sister told Newsday that the medical examiner’s office determined the 41-year-old, her 7-year old son Aidan and 2-year-old twins Ava and Brendan were overcome by smoke in the fast-moving fire that broke out in their Hollywood Drive home around 10 p.m. last Friday.

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The twins’ father who also lived in the house was at work at the time the fire broke out.

Police said McCusker was holding one of the twins and trying to get the other from a crib when she collapsed inside the one-story home.

“It appears that the mother was attempting to remove one of the children or had removed one of the children from the crib and was attempting to move the other child from the crib when she had become unconscious,” Suffolk County Police Det. Lt. Jack Fitzpatrick said.

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Meantime, the memorial outside the burned-out home continues to grow. Flowers, candles and a large cross are on the front lawn of the home.

The funerals for McCusker and her three children will be held Friday morning at St. Jude’s Church in Mastic Beach, WCBS 880’s Sophia Hall reported.

Authorities have not yet announced a cause of the fire.

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