Four-year-old twins suffocated after falling asleep in their cedar toy box in the middle of the night.
Aurora, a girl, and Kellan, a boy, were put to bed by their father Don Starr on August 25, but decided to snuggle up in the box where their stuffed animals were kept.
They ran out of oxygen and suffocated and were eventually found dead, their arms wrapped around each other, by their older brother who assumed they were still asleep.
Their mother Sadie Myers shared her heartbreak in a tribute to the twins on social media, saying, “Not many people will know the pain of losing two kids at the same time, and losing them in a way that makes no sense.”
But she warned other parents that the toy boxes become “airtight” and “soundproof” when closed.
Twins Aurora (left) and Kellan (right) suffocated after falling asleep in their cedar toy box in the middle of the night
Myers spoke on Facebook about the death of her twins, writing, “Don and I are having an extremely difficult time making sense of this. Not many people will ever know the feeling of trying not to cry in pain EVERY WAKE SECOND.
“So hard that you fall over in pain, but we try so hard to keep our boys from seeing us like this.
“I have to believe that something in this universe specifically chose them, perhaps to protect them from future tragedy, or perhaps because their souls were too perfect for this world.”
She was at work the night of the incident, so her husband Don put their four children to bed.
But the twins woke up early on Saturday and decided to play with the wooden box together.
Their mother said they got up at odd hours and slept in different places in the morning, with toys scattered around their shared room.
“Friday night they decided to snuggle up and go back to sleep in their cedar toy box that we use to store all of their stuffed animals,” she wrote.
The twins took out most of the stuffed animals and kept a few for extra protection, but fell asleep with their arms draped over each other.
She woke up Saturday morning and panicked when she saw that they weren’t in bed and weren’t immediately visible.
The family ran around to find the twins before one of their older brothers opened the box and saw them. He didn’t know they were dead.
He said, ‘Mommy! I found them! They’re so stupid when they sleep in the toy box.”
But Myers immediately realized they were dead. “I went to look and within seconds I knew something was wrong, but I also quickly realized it was already too late,” she said.
She assumes they wished each other goodnight before falling asleep. “Good night, Kell Kell,” Aurora said to her twin brother. While Kellan replied, “Night night, sister.”
The heartbroken mother warned parents about how dangerous the cedar toy box can be.
“Something I didn’t know, and I’m sure many others don’t, is that most wooden toy boxes, once closed, are AIR-TIGHT and also sound-proof,” she wrote.
“So while they slept, all close together, within a few hours they slowly ran out of oxygen and died.
“They didn’t even know it was happening. There was no sudden gasp for air, it was a very slow transition from sleep to death…”
The older boys stay with relatives while the parents deal with the loss of the twins.
“They’ve been with family for the past week because we don’t want to emotionally damage them seeing us like this, and they need to stay away from any triggers that could cause them to be in the same condition,” Myers wrote.
She added, “We’re going to family therapy sessions to try and help that… Don and I explained to them that death is part of life and they’ve done a great job of giving their little brother and sister the best four years possible. .
“We were so lucky to get the gift of having the twins with us even for a short time, because they changed us all for the better and brought so much light and love into our lives, every second with those twins was full of laughter, foolishness, dancing, silly questions and funny faces, games and jokes, happiness and LOVE!!!”
Jacksonville Sheriff’s Department agents arrived at the property but were unable to rescue them. They kept details about the tragedy to a minimum to protect the family’s privacy.
A fundraising page has been set up GoFundMe by Myers’ sister Deanna and nearly $17,000 has been raised for the family so far.
The twins’ aunt said that Starr worked during the day and her sister at night so they wouldn’t have to leave their children with a sitter.
“They both worked full-time, one in the morning and one in the evening, so they never had to leave the kids alone with a babysitter,” she wrote.
“I know they were always exhausted, but they were still able to be so present and so loving to each of their four children, every day, without exception.”