Lilburn meth house demolition rescheduled

As of Thursday, May 24, 2012
© Copyright 2013 Gwinnett Daily Post

File Photo An alleged meth house where three children died in an explosion, is being preped for demolition. The home is located at 1197 Spring Mill Drive at the intersection of Five Forks Trickum Road in Lilburn.

LILBURN -- Neighbors near an infamous former meth house in Lilburn must postpone their ballyhoo until at least the middle of next week, when demolition is now projected, a police official said Thursday.

Bulldozers were expected to raze the 1983 two-story as early as Wednesday, but contractors at the site said the heavy work won't start until the middle of next week. Neighbors call the home, which sits at the Spring Mill Drive entrance to their neighborhood, a constant reminder of the three children who were killed by a chemical-induced fire there on Feb. 17 last year.

JPMorgan Chase Bank, the owner of the home, was fined earlier this year before announcing the home would be razed. The bank is expected to pay all demolition costs.

A year after the fire, some neighbors started calling for the boarded-up home to be torn down. It had recently been appraised for $191,000.

Nearly $200,000 and 5,000 grams of liquid methamphetamine were reportedly found in the house after the fire was extinguished. Neibi Brito, the mother of the children killed after an explosion, and Joseph A. Perez, who suffered burns to his face during the fire, have both been arrested and charged with three counts of felony murder and trafficking methamphetamine.

The children who died were between ages 18 months and 4.

Police said this week there have been leads as to the location of Ivan Gonzalez -- the lone murder and trafficking suspect not yet apprehended -- since his disappearance, but he has not been captured. Several local and federal agencies have been involved in the search.

Gwinnett Daily Post