When Jesse Hayes moved into a Camden Avenue home on October 10th, he hadn't had time to tell his mother he had moved.

"The last they knew he had been living in another apartment," says Hayes' aunt, Patty Greenwalt. "They didn't know he moved until their youngest son told them he had died in a fire that morning."

Hayes' girlfriend, Amanda McClain, and her son, Conner Joy, also died in the fire which swept through the home october 11th.

Is "hell" a good word, we asked, to describe what you've been through in the last few weeks?

"Yes it is," Greenwalt responded. "it feels like we've all been put through hell."

Now, the families, just getting over the tragedy of losing their loved ones, have learned that, by law, the only citation the building's owner, Michael Rogers, will get is a $100 fine for not putting smoke detectors in the home.

"Law requires that the smoke detectors have to be placed by the owner of the property," explained Capt. Carl Sizemore of the Parkersburg Fire Department, "but the smoke detectors have to be maintained by the tenant. He stated he did have other rental property, and advised us he had smoke detectors in those units."

Greenwalt says she understands Rogers did not have smoke detectors in his other rental properties, and maintains he should face stiffer penalties for the three deaths.

"I would like to see the rest of his rental properties shut down, before someone else dies in a fire, if they're not safe to live in," Greenwalt said. "I thought he should at least be responsible...to pay for their funerals."

Capt. Sizemore tells us the families could file a civil suit against Roberts. But Greenwalt says she isn't sure yet whether they will.

The sad lesson of this tragedy is that fire officials say every home should have a working smoke detector...whether it's purchased, or provided by local fire departments.