Kaylee Petchenik, Booneville, Arkansas mother wakes up from nap to find 3 year old daughter, Laykn dead, her baby sister, Olivia in critical condition in hot car.
Deadly nap. A three-year-old Arkansas girl has died and her baby sister is in critical condition after the children were found in the back of their mother’s ‘hot car’ outside their home Monday after having fallen asleep inside the family home.
The Arkansas State Police said Kaylee Petchenik, of Booneville, the two girls’ 21 year old mother, called cops after she woke up from a nap just on 2pm and noticed her children were missing.
The children were identified as three-year-old Laykn Petchenik and 15-month-old toddler girl, Olivia Petchenik according to the Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette.
An officer sent to the family’s home in the 480 block of West 5th Street discovered both girls lying unconscious on the back floorboard of their mother’s parked car.
Laykn was rushed to a local hospital where she was later pronounced dead. An autopsy will be performed to determine the toddler’s cause and manner of death.
Temperatures soared into the 90’s
Her younger sibling was transported to a hospital in Little Rock, where she continued to cling onto life.
’Both are the apparent victims of heat,’ State Police said according to fox13memphis.
Preliminary reports indicated the children ‘crawling’ into the vehicle. It remained unclear if and how the children managed the feat.
According to AccuWeather.com, temperatures in Booneville soared into the high 90s around midday on Monday. The site described Monday as a ‘full-sun day’ with little cloud cover.
According to scientific data, on a 95-degree day it would take 30 minutes for the temperature inside a vehicle to reach a scorching 129 degrees.
The press release from ASP did not say how the two young girls ended up in the vehicle or how long they may have bee there for.
State Police spokesperson declined to disclose any additional details concerning the circumstances of the incident, citing an ongoing investigation.
‘Love my family….’
Special agents of the Arkansas State Police Criminal Investigation Division will submit a case file to the Logan County prosecuting attorney for consideration.
A regard of the mother’s Facebook page showed Kaylee posting multiple photos of her children, and her information section reads ‘love my family.’
Celebrating Laykn’s birthday in March 2019, Petchenik wrote: ‘Time has definitely flown by fast! Its hard to believe that you are already this big! You most definitely have a one of a kind personality and me watching you grow every day is one of the best parts of being your momma!! ‘It’s crazy to think that in 5 more days her little sister will be coming into this world! I know she’s just as excited as we are for miss Olivia to be here!’
A GoFundMe page was established to cover the funeral expenses for Laykn which had raised $2830 of a $5000 goal as of Wednesday night.
According to the advocacy group KidsAndCars.org, there have been 11 child hot car deaths so far this year.
On average, 39 children die of vehicular heatstroke each year.
It remained unclear if charges would be forthcoming.
