Months later, mother looks back on fire that killed family

“I miss them so much,’’ she said in a soft voice yesterday before lapsing into silence while tears flowed steadily down her cheeks.

Knight, who moved back to Oklahoma to be with her mother and other relatives after the fire, returned earlier this week to testify before a Norfolk County grand jury.

And after hearing from her, the panel handed up involuntary manslaughter indictments, and other charges, against the owners of the Robertson Street apartment building and the building’s manager. All three defendants pleaded not guilty Thursday in Norfolk Superior Court.

“I’m pretty proud that justice is being served,’’ she said. “It will never bring back my babies or my husband.’’

Knight, 27, was rescued from the basement apartment March 25 by Quincy firefighters, who also pulled her husband and two children from a smoke-filled apartment. She was found lying on the living room floor and rushed to Massachusetts General Hospital. Her husband of three years, Oudah Frawi, 39, and their children, 1-year-old Frawi and 2-month-old Hassan, did not survive.

In an interview at the Quincy office of her attorney, William Kennedy, Knight said she recalls nothing of the fire, nothing of being rescued by Quincy firefighters who worked in teams to search through the thick black smoke that spewed from a burning couch. What she does remember is the night before, which ended for the family around 10 p.m., as it did most nights.

“I just remember I put everyone to sleep,’’ she said, referring to her two sons. “We were on the bed. Hassan was in the bed between us. And Ali was on the floor in his car seat. The next thing I knew, I was in the hospital.’’

Norfolk District Attorney William R. Keating’s office alleges the property owners and a building manager are criminally responsible for the deaths of Knight’s family because they allegedly knowingly operated an illegal apartment and failed to make sure smoke detectors were properly installed and functioning inside the building. Prosecutors said the basement apartment had only one exit, and that ended up being next to the source of the fire, meaning that Knight and her family had no way to escape. No smoke detector was installed in the basement, and the windows only opened 10 inches, too small for even the babies to be pushed to safety.

The property owners were identified by prosecutors as Andy Zhan Ting Huang and Huang’s sister-in-law, Jinny Xiu Ma. Her husband, Zhan Tang Huang, acted as property manager, prosecutors allege.

Knight says that she gave little thought to fire exits and smoke detectors when her family relocated to the basement apartment from another unit in the same building. Her family, and especially her husband, had an amiable, respectful relationship with the property’s owners. She said her family dealt most often with Andy Huang.

“He treated them with respect, and they treated my husband with respect,’’ she said. “I felt safe. Everything was great. I know he was happy. I was happy.’’

Now, she says, she urges anyone to check with the local fire department, to check with neighbors, to check with anyone they can think of about the condition inside an apartment or a house. She has filed a civil suit against the property owners now pending in Norfolk Superior Court.

During the interview, Knight’s head was wrapped with a hijab, the standard head covering worn by observant Muslim women like her. She converted when she married her husband in 2006. She also wore soft gloves on both hands, gloves that her doctors have said could help speed the healing of her hands, which were badly burned. She also suffered from smoke inhalation.

Knight said her oldest was cheerfully rambunctious, was just learning to speak, and liked to say the Arabic word for no, which is pronounced “la.’’ In a rare smile, Knight said Ali knew the word so well because she used it so often with him.

Knight said that when her body heals and when her heart heals even more, she plans to relocate to Boston, so she can reconnect with the friends she and her late husband had made during the nearly three years they were together. He worked at a Weymouth gas station 60 hours a week.

Knight’s mother, Tina Griffin, said her daughter was in a drug-induced coma for nearly a week and that when she finally awoke, she had to tell her the bitter news. “When I told her she was the only survivor, she knew that the babies and her husband were gone,’’ Griffin recalled yesterday.

Griffin said it also fell to her to arrange for the return of Oudah’s body to Iraq, which he had left in the early 1990s after Desert Storm. The remains of the boys were later taken to Oklahoma, where they now rest in an Islamic cemetery, Griffin said.

“I hate to see my daughter hurt,’’ Griffin said. “I wish I had more time with them. It’s not fun to bury your grandchildren. They were precious, but God had other plans. You can’t be selfish.’’