[chris]

Niki Cain, 55, was rescued from her bedroom after a methamphetamine lab explosion tore through the Royal Arms Apartments in Tulsa, Oklahoma, before dawn on March 10, 2009, but never recovered and died Jan. 6, 2014, at age 60.

Cain, a substance abuse counselor at Tulsa Rightway Medical, stayed on the phone with a 911 dispatcher for about 10 minutes as smoke and flames blocked her exits, according to court testimony and news reports. A recording played later in court captured her saying "Help me!" and "Oh, God, I can't breathe!"

A firefighter who pulled Cain from the apartment testified he found flames from floor to ceiling when he reached her. Two residents of a neighboring unit, Armando Nunez, 35, and Maria Martinez, 39, died in the fire; Martinez died two weeks later at a hospital, according to the Tulsa World.

Investigators said the blaze started in the apartment of Mark William Roberts, 46, where they alleged he was manufacturing methamphetamine. Roberts was also injured and hospitalized after the fire.

Prosecutors charged Roberts with two counts of first-degree murder, first-degree arson and manufacturing a controlled dangerous substance. At trial, his attorneys argued investigators never proved an active meth lab existed in his apartment or established what caused the fire.

A Tulsa County jury acquitted Roberts of the murder and arson counts in January 2012 but convicted him on the drug manufacturing charge. He was sentenced to life in prison on that count after prosecutors presented evidence of his prior felony drug convictions, according to the Tulsa World.

Cain moved between hospitals and nursing homes for years before her death from the smoke inhalation and brain damage she suffered in the fire.