In middle of a freezing December night, five Asian college students from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, died in their apartments. The smoke from an intentionally set fire choked them as they tried to escape. They were trapped by intense flames and smoke. Some of their neighbors dove from the three-story apartment building onto concrete breaking teeth, fracturing skulls and bones. The person responsible for setting the fatal Pyramid Apartment Fire on December 6, 1992, has never been brought to justice.
A very small and often overlooked monument sits on the edge of a lake on campus. It names the students that died so tragically and serves as a reminder that justice is not always served. As is the case with most college towns, tragedies are forgotten as students graduate.
I’ve combed the archives of the student-run newspaper Daily Egyptian, and the regional newspaper The Southern Illinoisan. I talked with a source that tells me, short of a confession, no arrest will ever be made in this case. There isn’t enough evidence.
According to reports, the bodies of the victims indicated that they were trying to get out. One of the men was shielding his girlfriend. One young woman who jumped from the third story, would need a hip replacement. In one case, the parents of a critically injured student didn’t have enough money to travel to America to see their daughter in the hospital. They had to make the difficult decision to take her off life support from afar. Years later, first responders reported being haunted by memories of terror, screaming, and death. It was obvious to investigators early on that the fire was set intentionally.
Investigators believe the fire was set in a clothes pile outside the doors of one of the residences. During the fire’s five year anniversary, police announced they had a suspect and expected to make an arrest. They revealed investigators traveled to Japan to check out leads. According to an attorney turned judge, the fire was intentionally set by the boyfriend of one of the residents. Investigators say it was not a hate crime. No arrest was ever made.
The property management was sued, and lawsuits settled. The apartments were rebuilt and have new owners. This year, I saw no mention of the 20-year anniversary online in the Daily Egyptian nor The Southern Illinoisan newspapers. I have been unable to find any pictures of the deceased. No memorial websites. No Facebook remembrance pages. The police still have the incident listed as a cold case, and the award is only $6,000 for information leading to an arrest.
Have they been forgotten? Do students still stop to read the small memorial at the lake? Does the student that receives the modest Kimiko Ajioka Memorial Scholarship in the School of Business know why the scholarship exists? Do the families still call for justice? Does the person responsible for setting the fire feel remorse? And did that person intend to kill these students?
What’s written on the campus monument memorializing their deaths is true: ”The world will never know what their young lives could have given”.
Kimioko Ajioka, 25, a senior in marketing from Osaka, Japan
Ronald Moy, 23, a senior in economics from Chicago
Lai Hung Tam, 23, a senior in marketing from Kowloon, Hong Kong
Cheng Teck Wong, 23, a senior in electrical engineering from Johor, Malaysia
Mazlina Abdul Wahid, 28, a freshman in vocational education studies from Kuala Lampur, Malaysia