A 19-year-old mother, Amanda Hawkins has killed her two toddlers by intentionally leaving them in a hot car for more than 15 hours, police say.

Hawkins allegedly left her children Brynn Hawkins, one, and Addyson Overgard-Eddy, two, in the car overnight and ignored them even as they cried for hours.


The girls were unconscious and in 'grave condition' by the time Hawkins sent them to the hospital - a day after they were left in the car.

'This is by far the most horrific case of child endangerment that I have seen in the 37 years that I have been in law enforcement,' Kerr County Sheriff Hierholzer said in a statement.

Hawkins left her two daughters in the car on Tuesday at around 9pm while she hang out with a 16-year-old male friend and others inside a house nearby, according to a news release from the Kerr County Police Department.

When little Brynn and Addyson cried during the night, the Walmart employee ignored them even when her friends alerted her, the sheriff told KABB.

The sheriff also said Hawkins's male friend slept for a while in the car during the night but did not take the children out.

Her husband Isaac was apparently not present when she allegedly abandoned her kids.

The young mom finally took her kids out of the car at noon on Wednesday - when the temperature in Texas was as high as 92 degrees -, and found them unconscious.

Believing she would get into trouble, she decided not to report it, police say.

But after her male friend convinced her Brynn and Addyson needed medical attention, she finally sent them to the Peterson Regional Medical Center in Kerrsville, on Thursday.

Their condition was so bad they had to be transferred to the University Hospital in San Antonio, more than an hour drive away.

 Brynn and Addyson died at 5pm, mere hours after they had arrived in the hospital.
She had initially told doctors they had suddenly become unconscious after they smelled flowers at a local park.

Police investigated and questioned Hawkins before she confessed to leaving her children in the hot car.

She was arrested on Thursday and has been charged with two counts of abandoning or endangering a child, although police say these charges may be upgraded since the children died.  She is being held on $70,000 bond.

If she's found guilty under the present charges, she could face up to two years in prison.

Source: Daily Mail