Three Little Pigs Arrested After Blowing The House Down - While A Child Was Inside

Heather Rising's MySpace Profile

Newberry, South Carolina (The Weekly Vice) -- Heather Lynn Rising, a 28-year-old South Carolina woman, and two men have been arrested after a meth lab explosion killed Rising's boyfriend and nearly harms her 3-year-old child.

According to police, a 3-year-old child was inside a home used for manufacturing methamphetamine, when suddenly the house exploded in flames.

Police say at least five people were inside the house when the explosion occurred. Heather Lynn Rising(left), Reggis Braswell, Kevin Franklin (center), Ashley Riceman (right) and Rising's unnamed 3-year-old child.

Newberry County Deputies say Rising participated in making the meth and exposed her child to great danger that comes from the toxic chemicals, fires and explosions that can easily happen with the chemicals that are used to make the substance.

Following the explosion, everyone fled the flaming residence except one, Reggi Braswell. He wasn't running anywhere fast because the explosion drove projectiles into his head and torso. He was found burned to death on the back porch of the house.

The two surviving men split up and tried to forget where they'd been, while Rising took her unharmed son and fled to the home of a nearby family member.

When investigators surveyed the damage, it was obvious what started the fire. Rising and her boyfriend, Braswell, had been using the home to manufacture a large quantity of methamphetamine along with their buddies. During further investigation, detectives learned that Rising's child was also in the house, getting a front row seat to his mother's lifestyle.

Investigators didn't have an especially hard time tracking down the fleeing suspects. Rising and her two buddies were all in jail by Wednesday. Rising earned the highest pile of charges among the three.

Heather Rising was arrested Tuesday on charges of manufacturing meth, misprision of a felon, conspiracy and manufacturing meth in the presence of a minor child.

Kevin Franklin, 29, was arrested Tuesday on charges of misprision of a felon and conspiracy.

Ashley Riceman, 25, was arrested Wednesday on charges of misprision

The 3-year-old was placed into protective custody.

The Weekly Vice Opinion:

The ire of this store really isn't the explosion. It's the fact that this poor little kid, at the tender age of three, was being marinated in a lifestyle we STILL have a hard time believing would come from any mother.

Meth isn't an easy thing to make. The instructions are highly detailed and precise. The chemistry and math involved in getting the batch right makes it obvious that people who make it, have the intelligence to work a real job. So there really is no excuse and this child should never be released back to the custody of a mother who is foolish enough to make such bad choices.

Danny Vice
The Weekly Vice
http://www.theweeklyvice.com




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