4-Year-Old Twins in Florida Tragically Suffocate In Toy Chest

Whether you’re a parent or not, I think this story hits us all right in the feels.

On August 26th, 4-year-old twins Aurora and Kellan Starr passed away in their home in Jacksonville, Florida after suffocating in their wooden toy chest.

Sadie Myers, mother of the twins, shared her devastation in even attempting to comprehend this tragedy, after having found her lifeless children in their room.

The night before the tragedy, on Friday August 25th, Myers’ husband, Don Starr, put all four of their kids to bed while his wife was still at work. Even after Myers arrived home from work, she checked on the sleeping kiddos before going to bed herself. Everything seemed normal.

Fox News reported:

“At some point early that morning the twins woke each other up and decided they wanted to play in their room rather than sleep. They do this a lot,” Myers wrote. “They usually fall asleep in some weird place in their room with toys left everywhere.”

On this occasion, the twins snuggled inside their cedar toy chest after pulling out most of their stuffed animals, and proceeded to fall asleep together.

“I’m assuming [they] said ‘good night kell kell’ and “night night sissy,'” Myers wrote. “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.”

That morning, while the parents struggled to locate their twins, one of their older sons was able to locate the sweet siblings cuddling inside the toy box.

“Mommy I found them! They are so silly just sleeping in the toy box,” he told her.

Myers had no idea that, when these types of wooden chests are closed, they become completely soundproof and airtight.

“Within a few seconds I knew something wasn’t right, but I also quickly realized it was already too late,” Myers wrote.

“As they slept, all snuggled up together, they slowly ran out of oxygen within a couple of hours and passed away,” she wrote. “They never even knew it was happening.”

Note to self – if I ever purchase a wooden toy chest for kids, mine or otherwise, I will be sure to drill a giant hole in the back of it.

What an awful, gutting experience. I can’t even imagine.

My thoughts and prayers go out to this family as they grieve their loss!