Police found two toddlers dead in a car on Friday in Parker County, Texas, and the children’s mother claims that the kids grabbed her keys and locked themselves inside the vehicle.
CNN reports that deputies with the Parker County Sheriff’s Office found the children, 2-year-old Juliet Ramirez and 1-year-old Cavanaugh Ramirez, inside a a locked vehicle on their parent’s property in Weatherford, just west of Fort Worth.
According to Parker County Sheriff’s Capt. Mark Arnett, the children’s mother said that they were playing in the house the last time she saw them. After searching for them throughout the home, she said she looked outside and found them in the locked car. She claimed she broke the car’s window to get them out, but it was too late.
Both children were rushed to the hospital where they were pronounced dead. The temperature outside when the children were found had reached 96 degrees. The Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office is still trying to determine the official cause of death.
The Tarrant County medical examiner has identified 2 toddlers found dead in hot car as Juliet and Cavanaugh Ramirez https://t.co/4BXpvjHCMb
— Tom Steele (@tomsteele) May 27, 2017
“The question is, can a 2-year-old open a car door and a 2-year-old and a 1-year-old climb inside and lock it,” Arnett told CNN. “In the course of the investigation, if charges are warranted, I’m sure the district attorney’s office will bring them.”
The Parker County Sheriff’s Department, along with the Texas Rangers, spent most of the day Saturday investigating the incident. They impounded the car to determine how and if two toddlers could lock themselves inside the car. Sheriff Larry Fowler indicated that the investigation is still in its early stages and there aren’t many details available yet.
“This case is in the early stages of the investigation. Any comment regarding this case at this time would be an assumption until all of the facts are gathered.”
According to the Department of Meteorology & Climate Science at San Jose State University, the children’s death marks the 8th and 9th time a child has died inside a hot vehicle in 2017 alone. The last known hot car death occurred in Caldwell, Idaho, on May 20. A 5-month-old baby girl was left alone in a car and when police arrived, she didn’t have a pulse. She was taken to the hospital where she was pronounced dead.
Detectives are currently investigating the Idaho hot car death.
Check back with Crime Online for additional details as more information becomes available.
[Feature Photo: Parker County Police Department]
