Tragic day: 4-year-old children discovered dead in toy box at Jacksonville home
EDITOR'S NOTE: Kellan Aurora were brother and sister. One incorrect reference to the twins being girls unfortunately remains in the initial "search engine optimization" headline that cannot be changed.
About an hour before three Jacksonville families would endure one of the city's most hateful crimes, another would suffer an unthinkable discovery of two 4-year-old twins dead in a toy box they were playing inside.
The Sheriff's Office initially said very little about the children's deaths after being called about noon Aug. 26 to a home on Cromwell Road for a medical emergency. The media was advised that it was early in the investigation, but the information detectives had at that time was both children were playing in the home and when checked on, were found unresponsive. Adults and other children were in the home, and all were being interviewed, the Sheriff's Office said.
The heavily redacted incident report states even less per privacy laws. However, the Florida Department of Children and Families — which investigates child deaths — eventually added this to its Child Fatality Prevention website: "Two children, ages 4 years, were pronounced deceased after they were found unresponsive in a footlocker/toybox while playing at home."
It has not been specified if they were hiding, if they suffocated or if anyone was at fault.
A family in pain
But Friday the mother's sister, Deanna Myers, identified them as Aurora and Kellan Starr. She created a Gofundme with the emotional background of the parents, Sadie Myers and Donald Starr, and the family "while they live through the most horrific and painful thing any parent or sibling could be forced to endure."
She said they are devastated "by the unexpected, incomprehensible loss of both of their beautiful four year old twins in a tragic accident. As much as these wonderful parents have tried to blame themselves, they can’t. They couldn’t have known that this would happen or done anything to stop it. Four year old twins do so many silly things and they always do them together. This accident was one of those absolutely inconceivable things you can’t imagine or plan for or believe was even possible."
Myers said they rarely did anything for themselves like buying new clothes or shoes, or went out without the children — she included photos of two boys as well — by their side.
"Everything they’ve had or done or planned to do was 100% for their babies," she posted.
"They were the kind of parents any good parent could be envious of," she continued. "They both worked full time jobs, one in the morning and one in the evening so they would never have to leave the children alone with a sitter. I know they were always exhausted but they were still able to be so present and so loving with each of their four children, every single day, no exceptions. They’ve always worked long, very demanding hours and their jobs are not easy but they never complained they did whatever they could to give those kids the best lives possible and planned on doing it forever."
The mother told Times-Union news partner First Coast News that it was a large wooden chest and that the twins apparently snuggled in together with their stuffed animals after playing.
Too many children vulnerable and dying
The Department of Children and Familes lists this as Duval County's 25th child death of the year ages 2 weeks to 9 years old. Many of these were sleep-related and drownings, which are historically prevalent.
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In 2021 a four-year-old boy who went missing also was found dead in his Utah home after accidentally suffocating in his toy chest, the Independent reported. The boy, Kache Wallis, died from positional asphyxiation after climbing into his toy chest sometime after his parents put him to bed, according to Hurricane City police.
A toy box or trunk can be dangerous for children primarily because they could become trapped inside. Here are some tips from healthychildren.org.
Look for one with no top, or choose one that has a lightweight removable lid or sliding doors or panels. Little fingers can easily become caught and injured under lids and between sliding doors and panels.
If you use a toy box with a hinged lid, be sure it has lid support that holds the lid open at any angle to which the lid is opened. If your toy box didn’t come with such a support, install one yourself — or remove the lid.
Look for a toy box with rounded or padded edges and corners, or add the padding yourself, so your child won’t be injured if he falls against it.
Children occasionally get trapped inside toy boxes, so be sure your box has ventilation holes or a gap between the lid and the box. Don’t block the holes by pushing the box tight against a wall. Be sure the lid doesn’t latch.
The 4-year-olds' deaths were overshadowed by the same day's racially motivated massacre of two Black men and one Black woman at a Kings Road Dollar General store after the gunman first put on tactical gear at nearby Edward Waters University before being spotted and leaving.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: 4-year-old Florida twins found dead playing in toy box, DCF says
