Five girls die of heat exhaustion after being trapped in trunk

WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah (AP) -- The five girls, ages 2 through 6, often scampered through the summer haze and shrieked with delight in a small swimming pool.

Dennis Morgan, a neighbor, remembers chatting with the little troupe Thursday afternoon as he watered his lawn and the five whiled away another scorching afternoon.  A day later, their tiny bodies were covered in white sheets, lying on the grass as relatives wept.

Police said the girls -- two sets of sisters who were cousins and an unrelated family friend -- died of heat exposure Friday afternoon, trapped while playing in the trunk of a car.

"One grandma has lost four grandchildren today," said Lt. Charles Illsley, a police spokesman.

The mother watching the five told police she was in her house while the children played outside in the yard. When she went to check on them and couldn't find them, she called neighbors and the mothers of the other girls to begin a search.

Nearly an hour later, two police officers and one of the mothers popped open the trunk of the dark green Saturn sedan parked in front of the house.

Dennis Morgan, a neighbor, said his wife was outside when police were searching. He said his wife heard a woman scream, "Oh, my God, that's my baby."

Illsley said the officer who found the children also was traumatized.  "Think about it. Any officer working one year or 25 years who opens up a trunk and sees a sight like this is going to be devastated," he said.

The temperature at the time was about 96 degrees in the Salt Lake City area.

"We don't know how the trunk was activated, who activated it or why the children were playing in the trunk," Illsley said.  Police late Friday had not found the key to the vehicle but said there is a device inside the car that automatically opens the trunk.

There have been at least two similar incidents in the last month.

On July 13, four young cousins in Gallup, N.M., died of heat and asphyxiation after climbing in the trunk of a black car, which a doctor said could have reached 140 degrees. Relatives searching for the children drove the car for nearly an hour before finding the bodies in the trunk.

Last Sunday, two young boys were found dead with two puppies in the trunk of their parents' car in Greensboro, Pa.

Recent legislation requires the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to study the benefits of requiring cars to have latch releases inside trunks.

 

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