07:33 PM EST on Friday, March 10, 2006

By MARIA KOTULA / 6NEWS
E-mail Maria: MKotula@WCNC.com

6NEWS

John and Sarah Miranda were murdered by their father, police said.

6NEWS uncovered new information about the night police said a father shot and killed his two children before setting their home on fire.

The new information comes from search warrants just released from the Frew Road fire investigation.

From what police found at the scene it was a clear cut path that led to the arrest of Gilberto Cuellar for the shooting death of his children.

When firefighters arrived on Frew Road last Friday night, they saw a one-bedroom apartment burning. On the inside of that apartment they found two children who had been shot to death.

From there, police begin to unravel more gruesome details.

The search warrant revealed that Gilberto Cuellar was babysitting his two children while his wife, Olga Miranda, was at work.

Olga Miranda told police she was having domestic problems with Cuellar and that he had threatened to harm the children in the past if they could not work things out.

Then, on the night of the fire, police found 5-year-old John Miranda and 8-year-old Sarah Miranda dressed in their pajamas with gunshot wounds to the head and a lighter on the bed.

They also found a handgun on the kitchen counter and shell casings on the kitchen floor.

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Police believe Cuellar set the fires to cover up the murders.

Cuellar was taken to the hospital. The next day he was charged with two counts of murder. Police arrested him Wednesday.

Miranda said Cuellar called her the night of the fire and told her to tell the children goodbye and through an interpreter Miranda told 6NEWS about a strange voicemail he left her.

“I hope you have a lot of friends so they can console you later on,” Miranda said. “He didn't like to see people happy and that they, the children, were happy. And he used to say they are just like you, happy.”

The funeral for the children held Thursday. Both went to school at the Highland Renaissance Academy.