Posted on 06/29/2002 2:14:17 PM PDT by TheOtherOne
SOUTHFIELD, Mich. (AP) - Two young children died while they were left alone in a hot car for more than three hours by their mother, who was having her hair done, police said Saturday.
The mother was being held on an open charge of murder pending a review by prosecutors, the Southfield Police Department said. Police did not release the 25-year-old Detroit resident's name.
"This is a hideous crime. ... There is no excuse to lose young innocent lives like this," said Police Chief Joseph E. Thomas.
The weather was sunny at the time the children were left Friday, with highs in the 80s. "It can get well over 100 degrees" inside a car, National Weather Service meteorologist Dennis Dixon said.
Police said they were called to Providence Hospital in the Detroit suburb late Friday after the woman brought in the 10-month-old girl and 3-year-old boy.
She initially told investigators she had been abducted and raped, and then returned to her car and found her children sleeping, police said.
She later changed her story, telling police that she stopped to have her hair done about 4:20 p.m., and that the children were dead when she returned more than three hours later, police said.
She said she drove for about three hours before going to the hospital, officers said.
Autopsies were scheduled to determine the official cause of death, but Detective John Harris said heat was the likely cause.
AP-ES-06-29-02 1653EDT
Oh, but she did pretend -- at first. She came up with that tale about being abducted/raped. Then she changed her story when it didn't pass the smell test. I still think she's lying. Three hours getting your hair done? Must have been about a hundred french braids.
My god, who should a child appeal to for protection, if not their mother. I think of those poor kids dying slowly in that car, suffering greatly, and the person who is supposed to be willing to die to protect them was getting her hair done. These stories really depress the sh*t out of me.
What was it the wicked witch was going to do to them? Cook them, as I remember. But the witch got the tables turned on her, which seemed to be appropriate justice to me when I was a child.
I can think of no more gruesome thing than to leave a child in a car on a hot day with the windows rolled up. Murder two, at least.
I hope you're wrong about that. I'm just SICK over this! Today I was out running errands with my thirteen year old son and his friend and they wanted to stay in the car while I went into a store and I told them NO WAY! It was sweltering hot out here today. And those boys were old enough to get out if they got too hot. I *still* wouldn't leave them. That anyone would do that to two young children is horrendous. Even if it wasn't hot out, she shouldn't have left two children that age!
I agree with you but this is pre-meditated murder to me, anyone with a drivers license and a brain stem knows what was done would result in death.
Enough of the trying to figure out what this bitch was thinking as she got her hair done, SHE MURDERED HER CHILDREN!
My god, who should a child appeal to for protection, if not their mother. I think of those poor kids dying slowly in that car, suffering greatly, and the person who is supposed to be willing to die to protect them was getting her hair done. These stories really depress the sh*t out of me.
{tears}...Thank you. I wanted to say something, but couldn't even begin to know what to say.....I hope that woman NEVER HAS ANOTHER BABY!! Dear God in Heaven, what breaks my heart more than anything is that she wasn't even HYSTERICAL UPON FINDING THEM DEAD. You know what that tells me? THIS WAS DONE ON PURPOSE! COLD BLOODED MURDER!!! {tears}
They left race out of the Alabama dragging story and you remember how that heated up, then turned out to be different.
I have no children, so maybe someone could clue me in on how one manages to forget that they exist?
There have been bonafide examples of parents, grandparents, or other caregivers making a fatal mistake because in their busy lives they became frazzled. The person gets in the car and their brain goes on "auto-pilot". If the child falls asleep and doesn't provide an audible cue to remember them, they may then be left behind in the car. These are the incidents where the person responsible becomes hysterical when they discover what they've done, because they honestly could not imagine themselves doing such a thing or making such a terrible mistake. These people often consider taking their own lives, their guilt and regret is so great.
This incident doesn't strike me as a "mistake". It strikes me as a selfish decision that resulted in the death of those little children. I'm certain we'll be reading more about this case.
Andrea Yates' goof was to kill *all* her kids. If she had only killed three, the "Mommy Defense" would have let her out with a slap on the wrist.
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