Tragedy struck a Jacksonville family after two 4-year-old twins were found suffocated in a toy chest. NBC6’s Niko Clemmons reports
Tragedy struck a Jacksonville family after two 4-year-old twins were found suffocated in a toy chest.
Sadie Myers wrote on Facebook that her two twins, Aurora and Kellan Starr, woke up in the middle of the night on Aug. 25 to play but went back to sleep inside their toy chest.
Watch NBC6 free wherever you are
>
“Sometime during their sleep, one of them must have moved or kicked during a dream and it caused the lid of this old wooden cedar chest to close,” Myers wrote in a Facebook post.
Get local news you need to know to start your day with NBC 6's News Headlines newsletter.
>
“They slowly ran out of oxygen within a couple of hours and passed away,” she said.
Myers said the next morning, she, her husband and their two oldest children searched for the twins, and that's when one of her boys found them in the toy chest.
“I knew something wasn’t right, but I also quickly realized it was already too late,” Myers wrote. It makes no sense to me and never will… I hope knowing this helps in some way, and I hope if you have a toy box like this that you destroy it immediately!!!
Local
A lieutenant with the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office said officers found two children unresponsive, and despite life-saving efforts, the children were pronounced deceased.
“At the time, we don’t know if this was an accident or foul play is involved," the lieutenant told TODAY.com in a statement.
A 2014 report from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission says there were at least 34 child deaths between 1996 and 2014 involving toy chests.
"It makes no sense to me and never will… I hope knowing this helps in some way, and I hope if you have a toy box like this that you destroy it immediately!!!" Myers wrote.
NBC6 reached out to Myers and her sister Wednesday night.
