Two Children Die After Mother 'Intentionally' Left Them In Car Overnight: Sheriff

KERRVILLE, TX — A young mother has been charged after authorities say she intentionally left her two daughters in a car overnight, the Kerr County Sheriff's Office said in a press release.

The sheriff's office said that the mother, 19-year-old Amanda Hawkins, went to Peterson Regional Medical Center along with a 16-year-old boy. She brought her two children to the hospital, 1-year-old Brynn Hawkins and 2-year-old Addyson Overgard-Eddy, who the sheriff's office said were in grave condition and were transferred to a hospital in San Antonio.

According to the sheriff's office, Hawkins told hospital personnel that she had been at Flat Rock Lake with the two girls and the 16-year-old who accompanied her to the hospital. She told hospital staff the girls were smelling flowers and when they were getting ready to leave the younger child collapsed and shortly afterwards the 2-year-old girl also collapsed, the sheriff's office said.

After investigating, authorities said they found that the two young girls had intentionally been left in their mother's car overnight on June 6 and until around noon on June 7. At the time the two girls were inside the car, authorities said Hawkins was indoors along with friends.

According to the sheriff's office, when Hawkins found the two girls she attempted to bathe them and did not immediately want to take the two to the hospital because she didn't want to get in trouble. According to the San Antonio Express News, the car's windows were partially down some of the time the children were in the vehicle.

Both girls died around 5 p.m. on Thursday. The medical examiner will determine the cause of death. The Kerr County Sheriff's Office has charged Hawkins with two counts of abandoning or endangering a child and because of the girls' deaths, the charges could be upgraded when the case is presented to a grand jury. Bond for Hawkins was set at $70,000.

Temperatures in Kerrville on Wednesday, when the girls were removed from the car, reached 92 degrees, according to AccuWeather.

Kerr County Sheriff Rusty Hierholzer called it the most horrific case of child endangerment he has seen in his 37-year law enforcement career.

In May, two young children died after they became locked in a hot car in the Fort Worth area. In that case, the children apparently accidentally locked themselves in a car as temperatures reached 96 degrees.

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