KINSTON - Tiera P. Sutton, 12, of 3302 Crestwood Drive, died Monday, Aug. 25, 2008, at Lenoir Memorial Hospital. Funeral arrangements are incomplete at Swinson Funeral Service. Published in the Free Press from 8/28/2008 - 8/31/2008 KINSTON - Tiera P. Sutton, 12, of 3302 Crestwood Drive, died Monday, Aug. 25, 2008, at Lenoir Memorial Hospital. The funeral will be held at 2 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 31, at St. Augustus A.M.E. Zion Church with the Rev. Julian Pridgen officiating. Burial will follow in Southview Cemetery. Survivors include her mother, Tonya Maye of Huntsville, Ala.; father Braxton Sutton of Kinston; foster parents Zella and Simon Dunn of the home; brothers Telvin Sutton of Alabama, Tyquan Maye, Howard Davis, Keewon Davis, and Jaquan Sutton, all of Kinston; sisters Monya Sutton, Iesha Sutton, and Danielle Maye, all of Kinston; grandmother Mary Reed of Kinston; and grandfather Jeff Sutton of Kinston. Visitation will be held at 602 E. Highland Ave. Funeral arrangements by Swinson Funeral Service. Published in the Free Press from 8/29/2008 - 8/31/2008 12-year-old dies in house fire August 27, 2008 - 12:02AM Jon Dawson Staff Writer A 12-year-old foster child died late Monday night in a house fire in northwest Kinston. On Monday at approximately 10:50 p.m., members of the Kinston Department of Public Safety Fire and Rescue Division responded to a structure fire at 3302 Crestwood Drive in Kinston. Upon arrival, they found the home engulfed in smoke and flames. Fire and rescue personnel entered the residence and found 12-year-old Tiere Porshay Sutton on the floor, badly burned. They removed her from the structure and immediately started CPR. Sutton was transported to Lenoir Memorial Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. The owner of the house, Simon Dunn, 65, said he believes the fire started in the laundry room. Members of the KDPS and the State Bureau of Investigation determined the cause of the fire to be electrical. "Two wires in the wall of the laundry room came in contact with each other, and that's how the fire started," said Woody Spencer of the KDPS. Spencer also added that the investigation into the cause of the fire had been closed. The family was awakened by smoke. "We woke up and smelled the smoke," Dunn said. "I went to bust out a window while my wife went to get the children." Dunn said that his wife gathered the children and they were headed his way. "For some reason, Tiere broke loose from the group and ran the other way," Dunn said. "The firemen found her under a table about 4 feet from a door at the end of the house." Dunn tried to go back into the house to rescue the youngster, but the flames and heat were too great, he said. Dunn said the only family Sutton had was an aunt that visited occasionally and a grandmother that she did not see on a regular basis. A total of six people were in the residence when the fire started. The residence was a foster home for Sutton along with her 6-year-old brother and a 7-year-old girl. Dunn's 21-year-old biological granddaughter and his wife Zellie were also in the home. No other injuries were reported. According to Felecia Dunn, daughter of Simon, the Dunn family moved to Kinston nine years ago. The family is originally from Jamaica Queens, New York. "My parents were in the process of adopting Tiere and her sister," Dunn said. Dunn said that he has been a foster parent for 30 years. Sutton had lived in the house for two years.
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