Devastating News: Four Brothers Killed in Lake District House Fire

The house in the Ozarks was still blazing, swallowed by fire with her four nephews inside, when Lindsey VanPelt sped to the scene. The boys’ mother, Tina Brazil, had called her in a panic.

Brazil was not at home when the fire began to engulf the house close to 1 a.m. Thursday, filling the night sky above the water of McCoy Branch Cove with sickly light.

Neighbor Eddie Helt, 81, said he had awakened just before 1 a.m., detected the smoke, shouted for his wife to call 911.

He rushed outside, tried to enter the house. But the intense heat beat him back from 15 feet away.

That’s when Helt saw the boys’ mother pull up to the house in her car with her boyfriend, Mike Andrews. Brazil, Helt said, went “berserk.” She knew her children — Tyler Otto, 14; Cason Otto, 8; Max Otto, 5; and Levi Otto, 4 — were inside.

“My children! My kids! My kids!” he heard her scream.

It took five firefighters, Helt said, to restrain Andrews from trying to get into the home.

“There was nothing you could do,” Helt said.

Firefighters from the Lake Ozark Fire Protection District were dispatched at 12:51 a.m. and arrived at 1 a.m. at the house at 1636 Carol Road. They were unable to enter. The rear of the entire house had collapsed.