EAST CARONDELET • Police suspect arson may be the cause of a fire Monday that destroyed an East Carondelet home and killed 13 dogs.

Herb Woodall, the East Carondelet police chief, said authorities suspect road flares may have been thrown into the home. Two juveniles were questioned, but Woodall said he couldn't release any more details.

Woodall said police will present a case to prosecutors later this week.

Earlier story:

Thirteen dogs were killed here on Monday afternoon when a fire destroyed a small home, authorities said.

Rhonda Tutor, the owner of the home, said she raised the dogs — 12 miniature pinschers and one pit bull — because she couldn’t have children.

“I have no babies, I just want my babies,” Tutor said when she arrived at the scene.

Tutor said she was at work when a neighbor called and told her the one-story wood-frame house was on fire.

T.J. Hagedorn, the assistant chief of the Prairie Du Pont Fire Department, said the fire started just after 2 p.m.

He said it took about 30 minutes for firefighters to extinguish the flames.

Hagedorn said fire officials were trying to determine how the fire began.

The home is in the 600 block of Chartrand Road, near East Carondelet, in St. Clair County. Tutor and her husband lived at the home with the dogs, several stray cats and a turtle. The fate of other animals was uncertain.

Tutor, 43, said most of the dogs were in kennels inside the one-story home when the blaze began. Two of the dogs — Dirty, a pit bull, and Zeus, an older miniature pinscher — were loose in the house, Tutor said. 

“They couldn’t escape, they were trapped,” Tutor said.

The dogs ranged in age from puppies to upwards of 12 years old.

Tutor said she was a dog breeder but gave it up because she had a hard time saying goodbye to the dogs.