A pair of 4-year-old Florida twins suffocated and died after falling asleep in their wooden toy chest last month, their grieving mother confirmed in a heartbreaking Facebook post this week. On August 25, Aurora, a girl, and Kellan, a boy, were put to bed by their father, Don Starr. However, they chose to cuddle up inside the box typically used to store their stuffed animals.
They ran out of oxygen and suffocated inside the toy chest. Their lifeless bodies, with their arms wrapped around each other, were eventually found by their older brother, who mistakenly believed they were still asleep.
Died in Their Sleep
Their mother, Sadie Myers, shared her heartbreak in a touching tribute to the twins on social media, conveying her pain and emotions.
“Not many will know the pain of losing two children at the same time, and losing them in a way that makes no sense, but I have to believe that something in this universe chose them specifically, maybe to protect them from some future tragedy, or maybe because their souls were too perfect for this world,” Sadie Myers wrote.
She also warned other parents, emphasizing that these toy chests can become airtight and soundproof when closed, and she urged others to take immediate action to prevent such a devastating incident by destroying similar chests.
Last Friday night, while their dedicated mother was at work, her husband, Don Starr, took care of putting the twins, Aurora and Kellan, as well as their two older brothers to bed for the night.
Starr worked during the day, while his wife worked at night, a schedule they maintained to avoid the need for a babysitter for their children, Sadie Myers’ sister, Deanna Myers said.
During the early hours of Saturday, the twins woke up and chose to play together.
Sadie Myers explained that these closely bonded siblings often woke up at unusual times, and she would find them in different places in the morning, with toys scattered around their shared room.
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“Friday night, the weird place they decided to snuggle up and go back to sleep was in their cedar toy chest that we use to store all their stuffed animals,” Myers wrote.
The twins had taken out most of the stuffed animals from the chest but left a few inside for some cushioning. According to Myers, they then fell asleep, with each of them having an arm draped over the other.
Tragedy at Midnight
The mother mentioned that she assumed they had bid each other good night, as they typically did. “Good night, Kell Kell,” Aurora would whisper.
“Night night, sissy,” her brother would respond.
“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 said.
When she woke up in the morning, Myers sensed some pangs of panic upon realizing that the twins were not in their bed and couldn’t be immediately seen. The entire family began searching the house frantically, calling out for the two children.
It was only when one of their older brothers opened the chest and found them inside that the tragic reality became apparent. Unaware of the tragedy that had just occurred, the boy assumed that his siblings were still asleep.
“Mommy!,” he exclaimed proudly. “I found them! They are so silly just sleeping in the toy box.”
However, Myers soon understood the gravity of the situation and realized that the twins were dead. “I went to check and within a few seconds I knew something wasn’t right, but I also quickly realized it was already too late,” she said. “It makes no sense to me and never will.”
Upon the arrival of Jacksonville sheriff’s deputies, efforts to save the twins’ lives were made but sadly proved futile. The department has chosen to disclose minimal details about the tragedy to respect and protect the family’s privacy during this heartbreaking time.
“We were so very LUCKY to get the gift of having the twins with us for even a short time, because they changed us all for the better and brought sooo much light and love into our lives, every second with those twins was full of laughter, silliness, dancing, silly questions and funny faces, games and jokes, happiness and LOVE!!!” Myers said on Facebook.
