Brother and sister, aged 3 and 4, found dead in car ‘after dad, 31, locked them inside for five hours’
TWO young children have died in their father’s care after he left them locked in his truck for five hours in 90-degree heat. The bodies of Teagan, 4, and her little brother Ryan Dennis, 3, were found in the footwell of their dad’s truck in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Saturday. Their dad, Dustin Lee Dennis, 31, […]
TWO young children have died in their father’s care after he left them locked in his truck for five hours in 90-degree heat.
The bodies of Teagan, 4, and her little brother Ryan Dennis, 3, were found in the footwell of their dad’s truck in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Saturday.
Their dad, Dustin Lee Dennis, 31, was arrested Saturday and charged with two counts of second-degree murder after his children were pronounced dead at his home, according to an arrest report.
Dennis told police he drove to QuikTrip with his children around midday and then returned to his home in the 1700 block of East 61st Street South, according to an arrest report.
He then fell asleep for four to five hours and couldn’t find his children when he woke up, police said.
He found his children in the floorboard of the truck and then moved them to the living room where paramedics pronounced the children dead, according to an arrest report.
The cause of the children’s death has not yet been released.
A neighbor had footage of Dennis leaving, then locking his truck and going inside without getting the children out, police said.
The arrest report states “The children had not been checked on for nearly five hours during the time they were locked inside the vehicle.”
FIVE HOURS
According to the National Weather Service, Saturday’s high temperature in Tulsa reached the low 90’s.
A child can begin to suffer the life-threatening symptoms of heatstroke within minutes of being trapped in a hot car according to kidsandcars.org.
The inside of a vehicle acts much like a greenhouse trapping in heat, causing the temperature inside to rise rapidly.
Dennis is currently in the Tulsa County jail on a $1million bond.
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