Toddlers found dead, tragic miscommunication blamed
8:59 p.m. Monday, August 25, 2008
Could a tragedy have been avoided if two children were found sooner?
The deaths of two Montara kids has really shaken everyone who's heard about it.
An investigation is underway by the Shawnee County Sheriff's Department and the coroner's office to find out exactly why a brother and sister were found inside a car.
Monday night, investigators said they are looking into how hot the car got and if they can find out why the kids were in the car in the first place.
Scott Holladay, the Shawnee County Undersheriff said, "This is a tragedy for everyone involved in this incident."
A mis-communication is the reason deputies didn't see the children that were literally under their nose at this home at 6801 Windsong.
They were told by the mother that she had driven around the neighborhood to look for the children. So deputies saw the car sitting in the driveway and didn't search it.
"I'm sure the assumption was made that the car was used to drive around the neighborhood to look for the children," Holladay said.
But the mother used another family car that was parked on the street when she started looking for the kids at 1 p.m. on Sunday. Meanwhile, the children were hidden from view inside the car in the driveway.
Deputies arrived around 2 p.m. and searched for over an hour before checking the car in the driveway. Instead, they searched a boat just steps away from where the children were found dead.
That hour plus could have been critical.
An organization called Kids and Cars says despite the cool 77 degree temperature, the car became dangerous.
In the first ten minutes, the temperature in the car would increase 20 degrees. In the next 20 minutes, it will go up 9 degrees more. In 2 hours, the temperature could be 50 degrees hotter in the car than the outdoor temperature of 77 degrees. So, the car could have been 127 degrees inside.
" Certainly at this point we wish that the car was the very first place we looked but it was not."
Now all that's left are teddy bears to remember the couple's only children.
At the press conference, the undersheriff said the event was tragic for everyone involved, including the officers.
They have counseling available, but they are all still working.
Comments
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Aug. 26, 2008 at 9:58 a.m. (Suggest removal)suzyQ (anonymous)
How is it that a 2 1/2 year old child is not under constant watch by the mother anyway? Why were they unsupervised? I'd never have let my toddlers alone to play by themselves!
Aug. 27, 2008 at 12:38 p.m. (Suggest removal)no_leaf_clover (anonymous)
Something about this just does not seem right. How is it that children this young could get into the car on their own yet could not get out? They did not die in minutes, it took time. They did not just lay down and die, if the parents were franticly looking how is it that they did not at least walk by the car. We drove around the neighborhood, we looked everywere but not in the car or around the car sitting in the driveway. I raised three children and I am not saying it is impossible, I just think its unlikely that there is not more to this story.
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