Esperanza Gutierrez died attempting to save Mateo Gutierrez from burning, Sevierville, Tennessee, December 30, 2024. Mateo, 8, who was severely autistic and nonverbal, was trapped in his second-floor bedroom as a fire on the first floor began to spread up the stairs and the house filled with smoke. Mateo had been downstairs with his sister, Esperanza, 15, student, when a fire started after a kerosene heater overturned in the living room. Frightened by the blaze, Mateo ran upstairs to his bedroom. Esperanza, her older brother, and their mother’s friend, who lived in the house, exited through a side porch door off the kitchen. When Esperanza realized Mateo was not with them, she ran back inside the burning house and upstairs to Mateo’s bedroom. The fire spread up the stairs and flames engulfed the bedroom. Firefighters later found Mateo and Esperanza deceased in Mateo’s bedroom.
2025-0000030-10556Esperanza Gutierrez
Sevierville, TN