Man Accused of Sexually Assaulting One of Two Children, Killing Both, Setting Trailer on Fire: Police

The victims, Vayden Orum, 9, and Rayden Smith, 7, were allegedly spending the night at 27-year-old John Henry Walston Jr.'s trailer to play with Walston's own kids, according to their father, Tyler Smith.

Smith told CBS affiliate WEAR that he and his wife had known Walston "for a couple of years" and that both families lived in the same trailer park in Escambia County. Smith is Rayden's father and Vayden's stepfather.

"How can you expect any human being to do this? Let alone an adult with two kids," Smith told the news station of the suspect. "John, I hope they give you hell in prison, because you better be glad they found you before I did."

The fire was first reported just before 1 a.m. on November 7, according to the Pensacola News Journal. Walston was arrested the following day.

Witnesses reported the mother of the two children attempting to run inside the fully engulfed trailer. "She went into the trailer trying to get them. That's a mother's love," neighbor John Wenzel said, per People. "She went inside the house trying to get her kids, but [it was] too hot. They finally got her out of there."

According to the news station, Walston started the fire early Friday morning after the two children had already been killed. Police believe he killed both siblings after sexually assaulting one of them. He then reportedly set the fire and fled the scene.

"These children were not killed because of the fire," Escambia County Sheriff Chip Simmons said in a video released after the arrest. [The suspect] assaulted one, then killed them both before saving himself."

After attempting to rescue her children, their mother was rushed to the hospital where she was treated for burn wounds. Walston was also treated for injuries he'd received before his arrest.

The children's grandmother, Lisa Pinegar, spoke with WEAR over the weekend, calling their deaths a "bad dream." She then shared the conversation she'd had with the victims' only surviving sibling over the phone when she first learned about the whole tragic ordeal.

"He said, 'Mommy has been life flighted to the hospital. My brother and sister is no longer here, they're dead,'" she recalled. "He just kept telling me over and over and I didn't believe it. I didn't want to believe it.

Following his arrest, Walston was charged with two counts of premeditated murder, one count of sexual assault on a victim under 12, and one count of arson. People notes that he has additionally been accused of killing an animal after a deceased dog was found inside the home.

The suspect is being held without bond ahead of his first court date, set for November 26.

"I don't know what else I can say about this terrible event," Sheriff Simmons said at the close of his video, "except for please hug your children."

The National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline -- 800.656.HOPE (4673) -- provides free, 24/7 support for those in need.