Pregnant woman’s attempt to rescue 2-year-old in house fire ends in tragedy

Published 6:23 am Thursday, February 4, 2021

A pregnant woman’s effort to rescue her 2-year-old daughter from an early morning house fire ended in tragedy early Wednesday morning.

Both the mother and child died in the blaze in Limestone County.

Limestone County coroner Mike West identified the mother as 32-year-old Shauna Leary and the child as two-year-old Sunshine Reynolds. West says Leary, who was pregnant, is from Lewisburg, Tennessee.

West said the two victims were visiting friends at a mobile home at the time of the fire.

Leary and Jeffrey Branson had reportedly escaped the mobile home fire on Jennings Chapel Road, but the woman went back in to save the child.

The fire was reported at 3:30 a.m.

The names of the victims have not been released.  The bodies of the victims have been transported to the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences in Huntsville for autopsies.

The fire is under investigation by the Alabama Fire Marshal’s Office.