She Lost Her Husband and Toddler in Hot Car Tragedy. Now Virginia Mom Fights to Save Others (Exclusive)

“It took losing my son and husband to understand that it can happen even to the most loving and attentive parents," Laura Beck tells PEOPLE

When their son Anderson Beck was born, overjoyed dad Aaron had the first skin-to-skin contact with the baby following wife Laura’s complicated cesarean section. Aaron had been engaged every step of the pregnancy, charting the baby’s size “from blueberry to guava,” Laura tells PEOPLE — and once Anderson was born, “it was just a magical feeling — so right and beautiful.”

As the baby grew, father and son played on their tree swing at their home near Richmond, Va., tended flowers in the garden and cheered for Aaron’s favorite pro hockey team. “It was the life both of us always wanted,” says Laura. “We did ‘cheers’ every single day to celebrate.”

Laura no longer has much to celebrate. Instead, she sorrowfully observes June 28, 2022, as the day she lost her 18-month-old son and only child to a hot car death after her husband accidentally left him in the car and went into the office. Aaron, at age 37, took his own life in an almost immediate reaction of anguish.

"I don’t even know if the shock has worn off,” says Laura. “It was the beginning of my whole life being gone. But I couldn’t let what happened to them just be what happened.”

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Since the deaths of her boys, as she calls them, Laura learned how common such accidents are. “I used to be that naïve and judgmental person, questioning how anyone could forget their child in a car,” she says. “It took losing my son and husband to understand that it can happen even to the most loving and attentive parents.”

And it does. Anderson was one of 36 hot car fatalities in the United States in 2022.

On average, nearly 40 children die in hot cars annually. More than half are reported to have been unknowingly left in a vehicle, and almost all are under age 3.

Good intentions and everyday errors contribute to the trend, according to the national nonprofit Kids and Car Safety. In the mid-1990s safety professionals began advocating for children to ride in rear-facing car seats. There, they are safer in the event of a crash, but can more easily go unnoticed.

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An upset in family routine and a distracting or stressful experience before or during a drive combined with the fallibility of human memory can be a formula for this type of disaster, says neuroscientist David Diamond, who has studied hot car deaths for two decades.

A confluence of seemingly small elements had rendered the Beck household off-kilter that fateful morning in 2022. Among them, Anderson was recovering from a cold and had awoken very early. The couple had contemplated keeping him home from daycare but decided that the baby, then fever-free, could attend after all. Their new puppy added chaos, as puppies do, and a different work schedule for Laura meant the couple hadn’t yet established a consistent drop-off routine. 

Related: Father and Daughter Found Dead at National Park After Running Out of Water While Hiking in Extreme Heat

Hours into the day, Laura decided to check in on her son at school and, in disbelief, heard the words, “Anderson isn’t here.” With a sinking stomach, she dialed her husband at work, shouting into the phone: “Where the F— is Anderson? He’s not at daycare!” Aaron answered her, off guard but calm. “What do you mean?” he asked. He knew the baby was at daycare. Except, of course, Anderson wasn’t.

The next time she heard from Aaron, he told her he’d killed their son. That he hadn’t meant to. That he was so sorry. That he loved her. And then he took his own life.

“Aaron's love for Anderson was so profound, he never would have forgiven himself,” says Laura. “I see him opening the car door and seeing that — imagine how you would feel. It’s utter heartbreak and shame and guilt and despair. That’s all he knew to do in that moment.”

Related: Mom’s Son Mysteriously Died in His Sleep. Now She Keeps His Memory Alive by Helping Other Kids (Exclusive)

Laura has found her own way forward as an advocate. “It’s what keeps me going,” she says.

Shortly after that June day she connected with Kids and Car Safety and in 2023 founded Anderson’s Alert to provide education and safety information to parents. She also created a podcast, Beck’s Backseat to Change, to raise awareness about how easily these accidents can occur. “Other lives can be saved by learning about what we went through that day,” she says.

“I want people to know how big Aaron and Anderson's lives were,” says Laura, now 39. “They’re not just the tragedy. I still have days where I’m, ‘How am I walking? How am I doing this?’ But I keep Aaron in mind every single day when I’m making a decision. I know he would say, ‘Just stay calm. You’ve been through the worst already.’ And I hear that.”

If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by dialing 988, text "STRENGTH" to the Crisis Text Line at 741741 or go to 988lifeline.org.

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